Modern   Herodians 


OK 


Slaughterers  of  Innocents 


-by- 


MRS.  C.  I.  HARRIS 


COPYWRIGHT  APPLIED  FOR 


1909 

Wallace  Printing  Company 

Portland,  Oregon 


>ft  Library 


INTRODUCTION 


With  the  money  derived  from  the  sale  of  this  book,  if  the 
amount  is  sufficient  to  even  make  a  beginning,  and  I  feel  sure  it 
will  be,  I  intend  to  build  a  large  home  and  throw  its  doors  open 
to  motherless  or  homeless  girls,  and  if  they  cannot  secure  em- 
ployment all  the  time,  or  get  sick,  they  will  have  a  home  where 
there  is  a  woman  in  it  that  will  try  to  be  a  mother  to  every  girl 
that  comes  under  her  roof,  and  will  try  to  influence  them  to  strive 
for  the  best  and  highest  to  be  obtained  in  a  Christian  life.    I  know 
that  God  is  with  me  in  this  work,  and  all  my  life  so  far  He  has 
been  preparing  me  for  this  mission.    A  great  many  people  placed 
in  the  same  condition  I  am  would  sit  down  and  grieve  over  their 
trials  and  troubles.    Not  so  with  me.    In  all  my  trials  and  troubles, 
and  they  have  been  many  and  grievous,  God  has  given  me  grace 
sufficient  to  see  my  faults  and  understand  the  lesson  implied. 

My  heart  always  aches  when  I  see  little  girls  left  motherless 
and  the  father  with  slender  means,  as  is  so  often  the  case.  Usually 
then  the  home  is  broken  up,  the  little  girls  drift  from  post  to 
pillar,  brought  in  contact  with  varied  influences,  and  it  is  very 
hard  for  them  to  attain  very  high  standards  in  life. 

If  this  American  nation  wishes  to  maintain  its  high  prestige 
as  being  supreme  among  nations,  then  it  must  look  well  to  the 
moral  training  of  the  children,  boys  just  as  well  as  girls.  I  will 
not  attempt  to  lay  down  rules  and  regulations,  but  every  person 
trying  to  live  a  Christian  life,  and  especially  as  Jesus  would,  can 
assist  some  child  in  some  way  as  the  opportunity  offers,  and  they 
are  many. 


IS  LIFE  UNINTERESTING? 


"Nobody  has  any  right  to  find  life  uninteresting  or  unreward- 
ing, who  sees  within  their  sphere  of  his  own  activity  a  wrong  he 
can  help  to  remedy  or  within  himself  an  evil  he  can  hope  to  over- 
come/'— President  Elliott,  Harvard  University. 

How  any  free  person  can  ever  find  life  uninteresting  is  be- 
yond my  comprehension.  The  marvelous  beauty  we  can  find  in 
nature  on  every  hand,  coupled  with  the  great  achievements  of 
man  in  all  industries  as  well  as  in  Art,  Literature,  and  Science,  has 
often  caused  me  to  feel  as  though  I  were  shirking  in  some  way 
if  I  did  not  do  something  that  the  world  would  be  benefited  by 
my  having  lived  in  it.  Forty  years  have  now  passed  over  my 
head,  and  never  till  the  present  time  have  I  ever  felt  called  on  to 
do  anything  special  for  the  benefit  of  humanity,  but  now  that  so 
much  is  being  said  and  so  little  actually  done  concerning  the 
unfortunate  victims  of  the  White  Slave  Traffic,  and  I  feel  so 
furious  at  these  devils  in  human  guise,  that  have  carried  on  such 
a  fiendish  business,  that  I  am  sure  I  could  not  rest  comfortable 
in  my  grave  if  I  did  not  take  up  a  good  strong  cudgel  and  wield 
it  right  lively  to  help  slaughter  the  evil  herd.  It  seems  to  me  that 
if  any  one  on  God's  footstool  can  find  life  uninteresting,  a  young 
girl  lured  in  some  way  from  home,  made  a  prisoner  and  com- 
pelled to  live  the  vilest  kind  of  a  life  and  treated  in  a  most 
inhuman  way,  certainly  would. 

I  think  the  actual  truth  concerning  some  of  these  unfortunate 
girls  should  be  more  universally  known,  that  it  may  open  the  eyes 
of  parents  and  guardians  of  girls  to  the  fact  that  "White  Slavery" 
is  an  existing  condition,  a  system  of  girl  hunting  that  is  National 
and  International  in  its  scope,  that  it  literally  consumes  thousands 
of  girls,  clean  and  innocent  girls,  every  year.     It  is  a  shame  and 


disgrace  to  this  boasted  "land  of  the  free"  and  "home  of  the 
brave"  of  ours  that  thousands  of  our  most  beautiful  "flowers  of 
innocents"  should  be  plucked  every  year  by  these  fiends  and  com- 
pelled to  live  a  life  so  revolting  that  the  subject  even  must  be 
carefully  veiled  before  being  introduced  to  the  public.     I,  for  one, 
cannot  sit  quietly  in  my  own  cosy  home,  and  turn  a  deaf  ear  to 
the  cries  of  those  slave  girls,  supposing  my  own  little  daughter 
should  be  stolen  one  day  and  held  a  prisoner  in  one  of  those  in- 
fernal places.    There  are  no  words  in  my  vocabulary  that  could 
express   my   anguish   if   such    should   ever   happen,   and   every 
mother  that  reads  these  lines,  I  ask  you  to  take  it  home  to  your- 
self.    Suppose  your  daughter  is  to  swell  those  ranks,  what  then  ? 
You  might  say,  "Not  much  danger  to  mine,"  but  under  the  present 
conditions  no  one  can  be  sure  about  it.     So  I  say  it  behooves  us 
to  be  up  in  arms  and  work  together  as  one  woman  to  build  a 
bulwark  of  protection  around  our  girls,  and  raise  money  to  build 
more  homes  for  those  who  already  have  been   wrecked.     The 
editor  of  "Woman's  World"  has  said:  "Evil  men  will  ply  their 
trade  and  reap  continual  harvest  of  precious  souls  whenever  and 
wherever  permitted."     Now,  why  do  we    permit    such    traffic? 
Because  the  public  has  been  in  ignorance  to  the  terrible  condition 
and  political  and  official  authority  from  President  to  peth-master 
have  generally  been  so  corrupt.    There  is  no  reason  why  we  can- 
not have  laws  that  would  prohibit  men  carrying  on  such  a  business 
unless  the  people  and  the  lawmakers  sanction  it.     There  was  a 
law  passed  by  Congress  February  20,  1907.     This  act  declares: 
"That  any  person  who  shall  keep,  maintain,  support  or  harbor, 
any  alien  woman  for  immoral  purpose  within  three  years  after  her 
arrival  in  this  country,  shall  be  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor  and  shall 
be  liable  to  a  fine  of  $5,000  and  imprisonment  for  five  years,  at 
discretion  of  the  court."    There  is  no  authority  under  the  present 
National  statutes  for  the  Federal  Government  to  prosecute  those 
concerned  in  securing  White  Slaves  who  are  natives  of  this  coun- 
try.   What  flagrant  injustice!   Such  a  statement  ought  to  arouse 
the  indignation  of  every  decent  man  or  woman  who  reads  them. 


If  men  will  not  make  laws  adequate  to  our  needs,  then  it's  a  pity 
women  have  not  the  power  to  adjust  them.  It's  another  pity 
that  some  women  that  are  so  narrow-minded  as  to  think  that  other 
women  are  out  of  their  sphere  when  they  advocate  women's  rights, 
were  the  only  ones  to  furnish  daughters  to  swell  the  ranks  of 
workers  in  all  the  various  activities  and  in  many  cases  to  be 
preyed  on  by  conscienceless  men. 

We  must  have  more  stringent  laws  in  regard  to  protecting 
our  girls.  For  instance,  the  penalty  for  a  "White  Slaver"  at 
present  is  $5,000  and  five  years  in  prison,  one  or  both,  at  discre- 
tion of  court.  Men  that  made  such  a  law  as  that  have  no  more 
regard  for  dear  little  girls  than  for  cows  and  calves  and  such. 
Such  heinous  crimes  that  these  White  Slavers  commit  must  be 
punishable  by  imprisonment  for  life  on  being  convicted. 

Until  we  have  such  laws  it  will  be  impossible  to  stop  entirely 
such  business,  but  I  hope  and  trust  that  now  so  many  people  are 
earnestly  trying  to  live  good  and  pure  lives,  taking  Jesus  as  their 
model,  will  remember  that  faith  without  works  is  dead,  and  if  we 
wish  to  live  Christ-like  lives,  so  to  be  able  to  stand  before  Him 
on  judgment  day,  we  must  work  as  He  would  if  here  on  earth  as 
He  once  was.  Do  you  think  He  would  accept  money,  a  small  sum 
at  that,  for  such  terrible,  terrible  crimes  that  are  far  worse  than 
murder?  No!  a  thousand  times,  No!  If  all  Christian  people 
would  take  up  Home  Missionary  work  and  do  all  they  can  as  the 
opportunity  offers  and  even  make  an  opportunity  if  necessary  and 
see  if  they  cannot  make  some  marvelous  changes  in  some  of  the 
seemingly  unimportant  places  round  their  homes  as  well  as  the 
laws  of  their  country. 

For  the  benefit  of  some  people  who  may  read  this  booklet  and 
possibly  have  not  read  much  concerning  "White  Slavery"  or  have 
not  paid  much  attention  to  the  subject,  I  will  quote  other  authority, 
that  you  may  know  it  is  not  the  imagination  of  some  woman  to 
create  material  for  a  story. 


SKETCH  I 


Edwin  W.  Simms,  United  States  District  Attorney,  Chicago, 
from  his  article  in  the  "Woman's  World,"  published  by  Geo.  H. 
Currier : 

"There  are  some  things  so  far  removed  from  the  lives  of 
normal  decent  people  as  to  be  simply  unbelievable  by  them.  The 
'White  Slave'  trade  of  today  is  one  of  these  increditable  things. 
The  calmest,  simplest  statements  of  its  facts  are  almost  beyond 
the  comprehension  or  belief  of  men  and  women  who  are  mercifully 
spared  from  the  contact  with  the  dark  and  hidden  secrets  of  the 
underworld  of  the  big  cities.  Who  would  credit  the  statement,  for 
example,  that  things  are  being  done  every  day  in  New  York, 
Philadelphia,  Chicago  and  other  large  cities  of  this  country,  in  the 
'White  Slave'  traffic,  which  would  by  contrast  make  the  Congo 
slave  trader  of  the  old  days  appear  like  Good  Samaritans,  yet  this 
figure  is  almost  a  literal  truth.  The  man  of  the  stone  age  who 
clubbed  the  woman  of  his  desire  into  insensibility  or  submission 
was  little  short  of  a  high-minded  gentleman  when  contrasted  with 
the  men  who  fatten  on  the  'White  Slave'  traffic. 

"In  this  day  of  social  settlements,  the  forward  movements  of 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  and  Christian  Endeavor  activities,  of  airships  and 
wireless  telegraphy,  he  says,  the  evidence  obtained  from  ques- 
tioning some  250  girls  taken  in  four  weeks'  time  in  Chicago 
houses  of  ill  repute,  leads  me  to  believe  that  not  fewer  than  15,000 
girls  have  been  imported  into  this  country  in  the  last  year  as 
'White  Slaves.'  Of  course  this  is  only  a  guess,  an  approximate 
figure ;  it  could  be  nothing  else,  but  my  own  personal  belief  is  that 
it  is  a  conservative  guess  and  well  within  the  facts  as  to  numbers. 
Then  please  remember  that  the  girls  imported  are  certainly  but  a 
mere  fraction  of  the  number  recruited  for  the  army  of  prostitution 
from  home  fields,  from  the  cities,  the  towns,  the  villages  of  our 
country.      There    is    no    possible   escape   from   this    conclusion, 


whether  those  hundreds  of  innocents  play  their  awful  calling  at 
home  or  abroad,  their  methods  are  much  the  same,  with  the  ex- 
ception that  the  foreign  girl  is  more  hopelessly  at  their  mercy. 
Let  me  take  the  case  of  a  little  Italian  peasant  girl,  who  helped 
her  father  till  the  soil  in  the  vineyards  and  fields  near  Naples. 
Like  most  of  those  taken  in  the  raid,  she  stoutly  maintained  she 
had  been  in  this  country  for  more  than  three  years,  and  that  she 
was  in  a  life  of  shame  from  choice  and  not  through  the  criminal 
act  of  any  person,  when  she  was  brought  into  what  the  sensational 
papers  would  call  the  sweat  box,  was  clear  that  she  was  in  a 
state  of  abject  terror.  Soon,  however,  the  Assistant  District  At- 
torney, U.  S.  Parkin,  having  charge  of  the  examination,  convinced 
her  that  he  and  his  associates  were  her  friends  and  protectors 
and  their  object  was  to  punish  those  who  had  profited  by  her  ruin, 
and  to  send  her  back  to  her  little  Italian  home  with  all  her  ex- 
penses paid,  that  she  was  under  the  protection  of  the  United  States 
and  was  as  if  the  King  of  Italy  were  to  take  her  under  his  royal 
care  and  pledge  his  word  that  her  enemies  should  not  have  revenge 
on  her,  then  she  broke  down  and  with  pitiful  sobs  related  her 
awful  narrative.  That  every  word  of  it  is  true  no  one  could  doubt 
who  saw  her  as  she  told  it.    Briefly  this  is  her  story : 

"A  fine  lady  who  wore  beautiful  clothes  came  to  where  she 
lived  with  her  parents,  made  friends  with  her,  told  her  that  she 
was  uncommonly  pretty  (the  truth,  by  the  way),  and  professed 
a  great  interest  in  her.  Such  flattering  attentions  from  an  Ameri- 
can lady  who  wore  clothes  as  fine  as  those  of  the  Italian  nobility 
could  have  but  one  effect  upon  the  mind  of  this  simple  little 
peasant  girl  and  of  a  still  simpler  parents.  Their  heads  were  com- 
pletely turned  and  they  regarded  the  American  lady  with  almost 
adoration.  Very  shrewdly  the  woman  did  not  attempt  to  bring 
the  little  girl  back  with  her,  but  held  out  the  hope  that  some  day 
a  letter  might  come  with  money  for  her  passage  to  America.  Once 
there  she  would  become  the  companion  of  her  American  friend, 
and  they  would  have  great  times  together.  Of  course  in  due  time 
the  money  came  and  the  $100  was  a  most  substantial  pledge  to 


10 

the  wealth  and  generosity  of  the  American  lady.  Unhesitatingly 
she  was  prepared  for  the  voyage  which  was  to  take  her  to  the 
land  of  happiness  and  good  fortune.  According  to  the  arrange- 
ments made  by  letter  the  girl  was  met  at  New  York  by  two  friends 
of  her  benefactress,  who  attended  to  her  entrance  papers  and  took 
her  in  charge.  These  friends  were  two  of  the  most  brutal  of  all 
the  'White  Slave'  drivers  who  were  in  the  traffic.  At  the  time  she 
was  about  16  years  old,  innocent  and  rarely  attractive  for  a  girl 
of  her  class,  having  large  handsome  eyes,  black  hair  and  rich  olive 
skin  of  the  typical  Italian.  When  these  two  men  took  her  she 
did  not  know,  but  by  the  most  violent  brutal  means  they  quickly 
accomplished  her  ruin.  For  a  week  she  was  subject  to  unspeak- 
able treatment  and  made  to  feel  that  her  degradation  was  com- 
plete and  final,  and  here  let  it  be  said  that  the  breaking  of  the 
spirit,  the  crushing  of  all  hope  of  any  future  save  that  of  shame, 
is  always  a  part  of  the  initiative  of  a  'White  Slave.' 

"Then  the  girl  was  shipped  on  to  Chicago,  where  she  was  dis- 
posed of  to  a  keeper  of  an  Italian  dive  of  the  violent  type.  On 
her  entrance  here  she  was  furnished  with  gaudy  dresses,  wearing 
apparel  for  which  the  keeper  of  the  place  charged  her  $600,  as 
in  the  case  of  all  new  'White  Slaves.'  She  was  not  allowed  to 
have  any  clothing  which  she  could  wear  upon  the  street.  Her 
one  object  in  life  was  to  escape  from  the  den  in  which  she  was 
held  a  prisoner.  To  pay  out  seemed  the  surest  way  and  at  length 
from  her  wages  of  shame  she  was  able  to  cancel  the  $600  account. 
Then  she  asked  for  her  street  clothing  and  her  release  only  to  be 
told  she  had  incurred  other  expenses  to  the  amount  of  $400.  Her 
Italian  blood  took  fire  at  this  and  she  made  a  dash  for  liberty, 
but  she  was  not  quite  quick  enough  and  the  hand  of  the  oppressor 
was  upon  her.  In  the  wild  scene  that  followed  she  was  slashed 
with  a  razor,  one  gash  straight  through  her  right  eye,  one  across 
her  cheek  and  another  slitting  her  ear.  Then  she  was  given  medi- 
cal attention  and  the  wounds  gradually  healed,  but  her  face  is 
horribly  multilated.  Her  right  eye  is  always  open  and  to  look 
upon  her  is  to  shudder.    When  the  raids  began  she  was  secreted 


II 

and  arrangements  made  to  ship  her  to  a  dive  in  the  mining  regions. 
Fortunately,  however,  a  few  hours  before  she  was  to  start  on  her 
journey,  a  United  States  Marshal  raided  the  place  and  captured 
herself  as  well  as  her  keeper.  To  add  to  the  horror  of  her  situa- 
tion she  is  soon  to  become  a  mother.  The  awful  thought  in  her 
mind,  however,  is  to  escape  assassination  at  the  hands  of  the  mur- 
derous gang  which  oppressed  her.  When  once  the  'White  Slave' 
is  sold  and  landed  in  a  home  or  dive  she  becomes  a  prisoner.  The 
raids  disclosed  the  fact  that  in  each  of  these  places  is  a  room  hav- 
ing but  one  door,  of  which  the  keeper  holds  the  key.  In  here 
are  locked  all  the  street  clothes,  shoes  and  the  ordinary  apparel 
of  a  woman.  The  finery  which  is  provided  for  the  girls  for  home 
wear  is  of  a  nature  to  make  her  appearance  on  the  street  impossi- 
ble. Then  added  to  this  handicap  is  the  fact  that  the  girl  is  placed 
in  debt  to  the  keeper  for  a  wardrobe  of  fancy  clothes  which  are 
charged  to  her  at  preposterous  prices.  She  cannot  escape  while 
she  is  in  debt  to  the  keeper  and  is  never  allowed  to  get  out  of 
debt,  at  least  until  all  desire  to  leave  the  life  is  dead  within  her." 


SKETCH  I 


I  am  thankful  that  God  has  raised  up  men  loyal  enough  to 
humanity  to  expose  this  awful  condition.  It  is  astonishing  that 
such  work  has  been  allowed  to  go  so  long  when  it  is  a  certainty 
that  many  men  of  authority  have  known  of  the  condition,  but  now 
that  it  is  exposed  in  all  its  awfulness,  those  that  read  and  have 
one  spark  of  love  for  humanity  and  the  country  in  which  they 
live  must  do  their  part  to  cause  proper  laws  to  be  made.  This 
evil  includes  another  also  to  be  considered.  If  men  did  not  use 
so  much  of  that  terrible  inflamer  of  passion,  liquor,  and  were  com- 
pelled by  strict  laws  to  live  somewhere  near  normal,  decent  lives, 
there  would  be  less  demand  for  "White  Slaves."     Therefore  let 


12 

us  away  with  saloons.  The  money  men  spend  in  saloons  should 
be  spent  among  the  merchants  in  legitimate  business  for  the  bene- 
fit of  their  families,  and  would  be  if  they  were  compelled  to  keep 
sober  and  provide  for  them.  Therefore  let  the  saloon  man  turn 
butcher  or  baker  and  provide  something  for  the  benefit  of  the 
whole  family  instead  of  what  is  a  curse  to  it.  Every  one  who 
wishes  to  protect  their  boys  and  girls  must  take  a  personal  interest 
in  the  laws  of  our  nation.  Let  us  try  to  secure  honorable  men 
for  our  law  makers.  The  saloon  element  has  had  too  much  influ- 
ence here  in  the  past,  and  even  at  present  has  too  much  power.  I 
will  here  quote  from  other  authority.  This  time  an  assistant 
United  States  District  Attorney,  Harry  A.  Parkin,  also  from  an 
article  in  the  Woman's  World. 

The  cases  that  are  given  have  come  under  his  immediate 
observation,  and  I  will  follow  them  up  with  the  form  of  law  he 
has  framed  up  for  us  to  present  to  the  law  makers.  He  says  much 
about  stringent  laws  and  admits  much  is  being  said  by  prominent 
people  in  favor  of  more  stringent  laws,  and  then  proceeds  to  frame 
up  a  law  that  is  anything  but  stringent.  All  he  has  framed  up 
meets  my  approval  except  this  one,  and  that  one  surely  would 
cause  satan  to  double  up  with  mirth.  He  says:  "One  of  the 
strangest  results  brought  about  by  the  recent  'White  Slave'  pros- 
ecutions in  Chicago,  and  the  publicity  which  they  have  received 
has  been  the  astonishment  of  thousands  of  persons  as  evidenced 
by  letters  that  the  fact  that  such  a  wholesale  traffic  is  actually  in 
existence,  but  what  is  still  more  astonishing,  not  to  say  discour- 
aging, is  the  reluctance  of  other  thousands  to  believe  that  many 
hundreds  of  men  and  women  are  actually  engaged  in  the  business 
of  luring  girls  and  women  to  their  destruction,  and  that  this  in- 
famous traffic  is  being  carried  on  in  every  state  of  the  Union 
every  day  of  the  year.  Perhaps  the  actuality  of  this  awful  advo- 
cation may  be  made  more  clearly  apparent  to  the  innocent,  unso- 
phisticated doubters  whose  awakening  and  moral  support  is 
needed  if  I  cite  one  or  two  instances  which  have  come  to  my  per- 
sonal knowledge  within  the  last  few  days. 


SKETCH 


"In  a  comfortable  farm  house  in  a  state  bordering  upon  Illi- 
nois is  an  uncommonly  attractive  young  girl  who  has  almost  by  ac- 
cident been  delivered  from  the  worst  fate  which  can  possibly  befall 
a  young  woman,  through  the  secret  service  operations  of  one  of 
the  most  dangerous  procurers  of  this  country  was  traced  to  the 
home  in  which  this  beautiful  girl  had  been  adopted  as  a  daughter. 
The  White  Slave  had  already  ingratiated  himself  into  her  confi- 
dence and  that  of  her  foster  parents,  and  arrangements  had  prac- 
tically been  made  by  which  she  was  to  accompany  him  to  Chicago, 
where  he  had  a  fine  position  awaiting  her.  If  he  had  not  been 
located  and  his  character  made  known  to  the  household  at  the 
time  this  was  done  she  would  now  be  a  White  Slave  in  a  Chicago 
den.  Another  case  which  has  a  less  fortunate  termination  is  that 
which  involves  the  fake  marriage,  a  subterfuge  common  in  this 
wretched  traffic.  A  young  man  made  the  acquaintance  of  a  hand- 
some girl  in  the  north  side  district  of  Chicago.  He  was  polished 
and  plausible  and  the  parents  of  the  girl,  who  were  ambitious  for 
their  daughter's  advancement,  were  apparently  flattered  that  he 
should  bestow  his  attentions  upon  her.  When,  after  a  very  brief 
courtship,  he  proposed  marriage  they  offered  no  objection  and 
even  set  aside  their  own  wishes  when  he  suggested  he  held  preju- 
dice against  being  married  by  a  clergyman  and  against  having  a 
formal  wedding.  Consequently  they  went  before  a  justice  of  the 
peace,  who  pronounced  them  man  and  wife.  The  fake  justice, 
who  was  merely  a  confederate  of  the  "White  Slaver."  They  went 
at  once  to  San  Antonio,  Texas,  he  having  claimed  he  held  a  very 
profitable  position  in  a  large  business  concern  in  that  city.  When 
they  arrived  there  the  poor  girl  had  an  awful  awakening,  for  she 
was  promptly  sold  into  the  life  of  shame  without  hope  of  escape 
from  its  degrading  servitude." 


SKETCH  IV 


This  is  of  a  little  German  girl  of  Buffalo,  who  married  a  man 
who  deserted  her  about  the  time  her  child  was  born.  Her  baby 
is  now  about  eight  or  nine  months  old.  Almost  immediately  after 
her  husband  ran  away  she  formed  the  acquaintance  of  an  engag- 
ing young  man,  who  claimed  to  take  deep  interest  in  her  welfare 
and  in  that  of  a  certain  girl  friend  of  hers.  He  persuaded  them 
both  that  if  they  would  accompany  him  to  Chicago  he  would  im- 
mediately place  them  in  employment  which  would  be  far  more 
profitable  than  anything  they  could  obtain  in  Buffalo.  Suppos- 
ing that  the  work  awaiting  her  was  propertly  legitimate  and  re- 
spectable, the  little  mother  took  her  baby  and  in  company  with 
the  young  man  and  her  friend  came  to  Chicago.  The  next  task 
of  this  human  fiend  was  to  persuade  this  child-widow  that  it  would 
be  necessary  for  her  to  place  her  baby  temporarily  in  a  foundlings 
home,  in  order  that  it  might  not  interfere  with  her  employment. 
This  accomplished  he  took  the  two  young  women  at  once  to  a 
notorious  house  and  sold  them  into  "White  Slavery."  Thence- 
forth this  fellow  has  lived  in  luxury  upon  the  shameful  earnings 
of  these  two  victims.  The  young  mother  has  attempted  by  every 
means  imaginable  to  escape  from  his  clutches  and  at  last  has  im- 
portuned him  into  a  promise  to  release  his  hold  upon  her  on  the 
payment  of  $300.  She  is  still  working  out  the  price  of  her  release. 
It  is  scarcely  too  much  to  say  she  looks  twice  her  age. 


SKETCH  V 


One  other  example  from  the  current  history  of  the  "White 
Slave"  trade  as  it  is  pursued  today.  Only  a  few  nights  since  a 
physician  was  called  in  professionally  at  one  of  the  houses  of  Chi- 
cago's "red  light"  district.  Two  men  and  a  young  woman  entered 
the  door  just  before  him ;  took  seats  at  a  table.  A  glance  at  her 
fresh  and  innocent  face  was  enough  to  convince  him  that  she  was 
out  of  her  element,  and  probably  quite  unaware  of  the  character 
of  her  surroundings.  Stepping  abruptly  to  the  table  the  physician 
looked  the  young  woman  straight  in  the  eye  and  asked :  "Madame, 
do  you  know  this  is  a  house  of  prostitution?"  "No!"  was  the 
trembling  answer.  "Are  you  a  woman  of  the  streets?"  he  per- 
sisted. She  flushed  indignantly  and  finally  replied,  "No.  I  am 
a  respectable  woman  and  supposed  I  was  being  taken  to  a  lady's 
cafe."  Her  companions  bolted  for  the  door  and  made  their  escape. 
The  physician  then  called  a  policeman,  who  escorted  the  young 
woman  to  her  home  and  found  the  statements  to  be  true  that  she 
was  a  respectable  girl  and  believed  her  friends  to  be  taking  her 
to  a  respectable  restaurant.  Tragedies  of  this  kind  are  happen- 
ing every  day  and  all  over  the  country.  It  is  time  for  the  decent 
people  of  the  United  States  to  wake  up  and  realize  what  is  going 
on  in  the  "underworld"  and  to  take  strong  measures  to  protect 
their  daughters  and  their  neighbors'  daughters  from  the  hands 
of  the  most  dispicable  and  inhuman  of  all  criminals,  the  "White 
Slave  traders." 

Mr.  Parkins  also  states  that  the  keepers  of  houses  of  ill- 
fame  have  discovered  that  the  hideous  task  of  keeping  unwilling 
"white  salves"  in  subjection  is  much  easier  if  a  certain  owner- 
ship of  her  is  vested  in  some  man.  In  many  cases  this  man 
is  the  one  who  is  directly  responsible  for  placing  the  girl  in  the 
house,  but  this  is  not  invariably  the  case.  When  it  is  the  case  he 
receives  not  only  a  lump  purchase  price  down  on  delivery  of  his 


i6 

victim  to  the  house,  but  he  is  recognized  by  the  keeper  as  her 
owner  or  master,  the  one  to  whom  a  certain  percentage  of  her 
income  is  paid,  and  with  whom  all  settlements  on  her  account  are 
made.  What  is  more  important  in  the  eye  of  the  keeper  is  that 
this  man  is  held  absolutely  responsible  for  the  girl's  subjection, 
and  if  she  attempts  to  escape  he  must  cajole,  threaten  or  beat  her 
into  subjection.  In  one  of  the  recent  raids  I  chanced  to  come 
upon  visual  demonstration  of  how  this  peculiar  phase  of  "White 
Slavery"  operates  in  actual  practice.  One  of  these  fellows  was 
disciplining  a  girl  he  owned  and  doing  so  by  the  gentle  process 
of  forcing  her  against  the  wall  with  his  hands  at  her  throat.  Some 
of  these  fellows  own  two  or  three  or  perhaps  more  "White 
Slaves,"  and  on  the  income  of  their  slavery  these  brutes  live  in 
luxury  at  expensive  hotels,  maintain  expensive  automobiles  and 
lead  lives  of  luxury,  idleness  and  dissipation.  Mr.  Parkins  also 
states  there  are  at  least  5000  men  living  in  Chicago  that  are  sup- 
ported in  whole  or  in  part  in  this  manner. 

Yet  in  the  face  of  all  this  Mr.  Parkins  frames  up  a  law  for  us 
to  copy  that  reads  like  this :  "Any  person  who  shall  knowingly 
accept  or  receive  in  whole  or  in  part  support  or  maintainence  on 
the  proceeds  or  earnings  of  any  woman  engaged  in  prostitution 
shall  be  deemed  guilty  of  a  felony,  and  on  conviction  thereof  shall 
be  confined  in  the  penitentiary  not  less  than  one  year,  or  more  than 
three  years,  and  fined  not  exceeding  $1000,  or  both,  at  the  discre- 
tion of  the  court."  Such  a  law  would  be  an  insult  added  to  injury. 
There  isn't  anything  stringent  about  it.  Those  fiends  would  only 
wink  at  it.  The  people  may  be  innocent  in  some  respects,  but  they 
are  not  so  unsophisticated  since  having  a  Roosevelt  administra- 
tion that  they  cannot  occasionally  detect  trickery  in  high  places. 
As  Mr.  Parkins  has  framed  up  several  laws  in  that  same  article 
in  the  "Woman's  World"  in  the  April,  1909,  number,  I  advise 
every  one  to  get  it  and  read  it.  They  are  all  good,  but  the  one 
that  being  the  fact,  they  thought  to  catwalk  this  one  in.  Many 
such  an  imposition  has  been  sprung  on  the  public  in  the  same  sly 
way.    Mr.  Parkins  has  framed  up  not  only  the  new  laws  for  us, 


17 

but  also  the  form  of  letter  for  us  to  write  our  representative  in 
the  legislature  that  he  advises  each  and  every  individual  to  write 
personally  to  them.  I  advise  this  also,  but  frame  that  one  law  up 
so  that  it  will  read  like  this : 

"Any  person  who  shall  knowingly  accept  or  receive  in  whole 
or  in  part  support  or  maintainence  from  the  proceeds  or  earnings 
of  any  woman  engaged  in  prostitution  shall  be  deemed  guilty  of 
a  felony,  and  on  conviction  thereof  shall  be  imprisoned  for  life  at 
hard  labor,  and  the  proceeds  of  his  labors  go  to  support  homes 
for  fallen  women,  fatherless  babies  and  other  orphans."  Now  that 
comes  a  little  nearer  being  stringent.  These  imps  of  satan  in  the 
form  of  man  if  they  do  not  hesitate  to  steal  every  young  and  pretty 
girl  they  can  get  their  talons  on  and  imprison  them  for  the  rest 
of  their  life,  why  should  we  accord  them  less  than  a  life  sentence, 
to  work  for  the  benefit  of  the  innocent.  Mr.  Parkins  also  men- 
tions the  fact  that  it  is  very  difficult  to  convict  those  imps,  because 
the  state  will  endeavor  to  prove  they  have  some  other  and  legiti- 
mate business,  such  as  a  solicitor  of  some  kind  if  nothing  else,  in 
other  words  these  brutes  have  plenty  of  money  to  hire  others  of 
their  ilk  to  lie  for  them,  even  under  oath. 

Mr.  Parkins  did  not  state,  however,  that  the  main  witness 
against  such  an  imp  is  debarred  by  the  present  statutes  from  being 
a  witness,  i.  e.,  any  woman  from  a  house  of  prostitution  is  not 
allowed  to  go  on  the  stand,  though  she  may  have  been  stolen  from 
a  good  home,  robbed  of  her  innocence,  compelled  by  force  to  re- 
main in  such  a  house,  and  yet  the  condition  of  our  laws  says  such 
a  one  cannot  raise  her  voice  against  the  author  of  all  this  infamy 
against  her.  The  farce  of  men's  justice  to  woman  is  so  rotten  it 
stinks  to  high  heaven.  It  is  a  blessed  thing  for  the  angels  that 
they  have  not  the  sense  of  smell,  and  yet  there  are  women  to 
be  found  who  will  sit  down  in  a  rocking  chair,  fold  their  hands 
and  declare  the  laws  man  has  made  and  the  way  he  has  managed 
afTairs  suits  her  very  well,  and  as  far  as  she  is  concerned  he  will 
not  be  hindered  from  having  his  way  for  all  time.     Such  a  one 


18 

represents   either   ignorance   or   slothfulness,   or   are   friends   to 
the  fiends  of  the  underworld. 

Of  course  we  have  a  lot  of  good  and  noble  men  as  well  as 
women,  but  they  are  far  from  being  in  the  majority  among  hu- 
manity, and  you  know  it's  the  majority  that  rules,  so  let  the  good 
noble  men  and  women  join  forces  to  put  up  a  fight  for  radical 
changes  in  our  laws  and  regulations,  and  see  to  it  that  a  " White 
Slave"  can  be  a  witness  against  her  oppressors,  as  well  as  doing 
away  with  many  other  evils. 


SKETCH  VI 


The  next  article  is  one  by  Mrs.  O.  Amigh,  Superintendent 
Illinois  Training  School  for  Girls,  to  show  how  much  good  she 
has  accomplished  by  taking  a  real  personal  interest  in  these  girls. 
I  wish  I  might  arouse  everyone  to  take  such  a  real  personal  inter- 
est in  this  as  well  as  all  other  such  work  that  much  more  good 
might  be  accomplished. 

More  About  the  Trade  in  Shame,  by  Mrs.  Ophelia  Amigh, 
Superintendent  of  the  Illinois  Training  School  for  Girls. 

One  of  the  most  disheartening  things  in  the  work  of  pro- 
tecting innocent  girls  and  restoring  to  useful  lives  those  who 
have  been  betrayed  from  the  path  of  right  living  is  the  blind  in- 
credulity of  a  very  large  part  of  the  public.  There  are  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  women  in  the  homes  of  this  country  who  know 
as  little  of  what  is  going  on  in  the  world,  so  far  as  the  safety  of 
their  daughters  is  concerned,  as  so  many  children.  They  are 
almost  marvelously  ignorant  of  the  terrible  conditions  all  about 
them — and  all  about  their  children,  too. 


19 

Of  course,  their  blindness  to  these  awful  actualities  makes 
them  more  comfortable,  for  the  time  being,  than  they  could  pos- 
sibly be  if  awake  to  the  perils  which  beset  the  feet  of  their  daugh- 
ters and  the  daughters  of  their  friends  and  neighbors.  But  there 
is  no  permanency  to  this  sort  of  peace — and  thousands  of  mothers 
of  this  class  are  annually  brought  to  their  senses  and  recalled  to 
earth  by  discovering  that  their  own  daughters  have  made  the 
fatal  misstep  and  have  passed  under  the  brand  of  the  pariah. 
The  awakening  of  such  parents  comes  too  late,  generally,  to  do 
much  good.  Not  always,  but  in  a  majority  of  cases.  Many, 
many  times  after  I  have  related  to  a  casual  woman  visitor  the 
simple  details  of  a  typical  "case"  brought  here  to  the  State  Home, 
the  caller  has  exclaimed:  "How  terrible!  I  didn't  dream  that 
such  things  were  going  on  in  the  world !" 

Now,  if  you  had  something  of  great  value  which  needed  to 
be  protected  day  and  night,  would  you  select  for  such  a  task  a 
blind  watchman?  or  one  who  was  firmly  possessed  of  the  idea 
that  there  was  really  no  danger,  no  occasion  for  watchfulness? 
Certainly  not!  There  is  nothing  in  the  world  of  such  priceless 
value  to  a  father  or  a  mother  as  the  honor,  the  purity,  the  good 
character  of  a  daughter.  No  parent  will  possibly  question  this 
statement.  And  still  there  are  many  thousands  of  parents  en- 
trusted by  Providence  with  the  safe-keeping  of  this  priceless 
treasure  who  are  themselves  in  the  position  of  discharging  that 
great  responsibility  with  closed  eyes,  with  dull  ears  and  with  a 
childish  belief  that  there  is  no  real  peril  threatening  the  safety 
of  their  daughters !  These  parents  do  not  live  on  earth,  their 
heads  are  in  the  clouds  and  their  ears  are  filled  with  the  cry  of 
"  'Peace !  Peace !'  when  there  is  no  peace." 

As  one  whose  daily  duty  it  is  to  deal  with  warward  and  fallen 
girls,  as  one  who  has  had  to  dig  down  into  the  sordid  and  revolt- 
ing details  of  thousands  of  these  sad  cases  (for  I  have  spent  the 
best  part  of  my  life  in  this  line  of  work)  let  me  say  to  such  moth- 
ers: 


20 

In  this  day  and  age  of  the  world  no  young  girl  is  safe!  And 
all  young  girls  who  are  not  surrounded  by  the  alert,  constant  and 
intelligent  protection  of  those  who  love  them  unselfishly  are  in 
imminent  and  deadly  peril.  And  the  more  beautiful  and  attractive 
they  are  the  greater  is  their  peril! 

The  first  and  most  vital  step  for  the  protection  of  the  girls 
who  walk  in  this  path  of  pitfalls  is  to  arouse  the  sleeping  watch- 
men who  are,  by  reason  of  their  parenthood,  responsible  for  the 
safe-keeping  of  their  daughters.  This  is  why  the  "White  Slave" 
articles  by  Hon.  Edwin  W.  Sims  and  others,  which  have  been 
published  in  the  Woman's  World,  have  done  great  good.  They 
have  stirred  to  a  sense  of  alarm  thousands  of  parents  who  were 
asleep  in  a  false  sense  of  security.  If  they  accomplish  nothing 
beyond  this  they  will  fully  have  justified  their  publication. 

But  it  is  evident  that  they  will  also  result  in  the  enactment 
of  much  needed  legislation,  of  laws  which  will  make  it  easier  to 
convict  and  punish  those  who  live  from  this  foul  traffic  in  the 
shame  of  girls  whose  natural  protectors  are  asleep  in  this  false 
sense  of  security.  Of  course,  practically  every  state  has  some 
laws  against  the  traffic — but  I  do  not  know  of  any  state  in  which 
the  laws  now  on  the  statute  books  are  adequate  to  deal  with  the 
situation  as  it  should  be  dealt  with. 

One  of  the  things  which  comfortable  and  trusting  parents 
seem  to  find  especialy  hard  to  believe  is  the  point  upon  which 
both  U.  S.  District  Attorney  Sims  and  his  assistant,  Mr.  Parkin, 
have  placed  so  much  stress — the  existence  of  an  active  and  sys- 
tematic traffic  in  girls.  There  is  no  safety  for  the  daughter  of 
any  parent  who  is  not  awake  and  alive  to  the  actuality  of  this 
fact! 

It  is  one  of  the  satisfactions  of  my  life  to  reflect  that  I  have 
been  one  of  the  agents  in  sending  a  dozen — perhaps  more — per- 
sons to  the  penitentiary  for  participating  in  this  traffic. 

The  dragnets  of  the  inhuman  men  and  women  who  ply  this 
terrible  trade  are  spread  day  and  night  and  are  manipulated  with 
a  skill  and  precision  which  ought  to  strike  terror  to  the  heart  of 


21 

every  careless  or  indifferent  parent.  The  wonder  is  not  that  so 
many  are  caught  in  the  net,  but  that  they  escape!  I  count  the 
week — I  might  almost  say  the  day — a  happy  and  fortunate  one 
which  does  not  bring  to  my  attention  as  an  officer  of  the  state  a 
deplorable  case   of   this   kind. 

Just  to  show  how  tightly  and  broadly  the  nets  of  these  fish- 
ers for  girls  are  spread,  let  me  tell  of  an  instance  which  occurred 
to  a  girl  from  this  institution : 

This  girl,  whom  I  will  call  Nellie,  is  a  very  ordinary  looking 
girl,  and  below  the  average  of  intelligence,  but  as  tractable  and 
obedient  as  she  is  ingenuous.  She  is  wholly  without  the  charms 
which  would  naturally  attract  the  eye  of  the  White  Slave  trader. 

Because  of  her  quietness,  her  obedience  and  her  good  dispo- 
sition, she  was,  in  accordance  with  the  rules  of  the  instiution, 
permitted  to  go  into  the  family  of  a  substantial  farmer  out  in 
the  West  and  work  as  a  housemaid,  a  "hired  girl" — her  wages 
to  be  deposited  to  her  credit  against  the  time  when  she  should 
reach  the  age  of  twenty-one  and  leave  the  Home. 

She  had  been  in  her  position  for  some  time  and  was  so  quiet 
and  satisfactory  that  one  Sunday  when  the  family  were  not  going 
to  church  the  mistress  said: 

"Jennie,  if  you  wish  to  go  to  church  alone  you  may  do  so. 
The  milk  wagon  will  be  along  shortly  and  you  can  ride  on  that 
to  the  village — and  here  is  seventy-five  cents.  You  may  want  to 
buy  your  dinner  and  perhaps  some  candy." 

When  Nellie  reached  town  and  was  on  her  way  past  the  rail- 
road station  to  the  church  the  train  for  Chicago  came  in,  and  the 
impulse  seized  her  to  get  aboard,  go  to  the  city  and  look  up  her 
father,  whom  she  had  not  seen  for  several  months.  She  went 
to  the  city  and  had  hardly  stepped  from  the  train  into  the  big 
station  when  he  heard  a  man's  voice  saying:  "Why,  hello,  Mary." 

Instantly — foolishly,  of  course — she  answered  him  and  re- 
plied : 

"My  name's  not  Mary;  it's  Nellie." 

"You  look  the  very  picture,"  he  replied,  "of  a  girl  I  know 


22 

well  whose  name  is  Mary — and  she's  a  fine  girl,  too !  Are  any  of 
your  folks  here  to  meet  you?" 

"No,"  she  answered.  "My  father's  here  in  the  city,  some- 
where, but  he  doesn't  know  I'm  coming.  I've  been  working  out 
in  the  country  for  a  long  time  and  I  didn't  write  him  about  com- 
ing back." 

Her  answers  were  so  ingenuous  and  revealing  that  the  man 
saw  that  he  had  an  easy  and  simple  victim  to  deal  with.  There- 
fore his  tactics  were  very  direct. 

"It's  about  time  to  eat,"  he  suggested,  "and  I  guess  we're 
both  hungry.  You  go  to  a  restaurant  and  eat  with  me  and  per- 
haps I  can  help  you  to  find  your  father  quicker  than  you  could  do 
it  alone." 

She  accepted,  and  in  the  course  of  the  meal  he  asked  her  if 
she  would  not  like  to  find  a  place  at  which  to  work.  "I  know  of 
a  fine  place  in  Blank  City,"  he  added.  "The  woman  is  looking  for 
a  good  girl  just  like  you." 

"Yes,  I'd  be  pleased  to  get  the  place,  but  I  haven't  any  money 
to  pay  the  fare  with,"  was  her  answer. 

"Oh,  that's  all  right,"  he  quickly  replied.  "I'll  buy  your 
ticket  and  give  you  a  little  money  besides  for  a  cab  and  other  ex- 
penses. The  woman  told  me  to  do  that  if  I  could  find  her  a  girl. 
She'll  send  me  back  a  check  for  it  all." 

After  he  had  bought  the  ticket  and  put  her  aboard  the  train 
going  to  Blank  City  he  wrote  the  name  of  the  woman  to  whom 
he  was  sending  her,  gave  her  about  $2.00  extra  and  then  deliv- 
ered this  fatherly  advice  to  her: 

"You're  just  a  young  girl,  and  it's  best  for  you  not  to  talk 
to  anybody  on  the  train  or  after  you  get  off.  Don't  show  this 
paper  to  anybody  or  tell  anybody  where  you're  going.  It  isn't 
any  of  their  business,  anyway.  And  as  soon  as  you  get  off  the 
train  you'll  find  plenty  of  cabs  there.     Hand  our  paper  to  the 

first  cab  driver  in  the  line,  get  in  and  ride  to  Mrs.  A 's  home. 

Pay  the  driver  and  then  walk  in." 

Believing  that  she  was  being  furnished  a  position  by  a  re- 


23 

markably  kind  man,  the  poor  girl  followed  his  directions  implic- 
itly— and  landed  the  next  day  in  one  of  the  most  notorious  houses 
of  shame  in  the  state  of  Illinois  outside  of  Chicago.  How  she 
was  found  and  rescued  is  a  story  apart  from  the  purposes  which 
has  led  me  to  tell  of  this  incident — that  of  indicating  how  tightly 
the  slave  traders  have  their  nets  spread  for  even  the  most  ordi- 
nary and  unattractive  prey.  They  let  no  girl  escape  whom  they 
dare  to  approach ! 

It  may  be  well  and  to  the  point  to  add,  however,  that  two 
other  girls  who  had  been  in  the  care  of  the  State  Home  were 
found  to  be  in  the  same  house  to  which  this  girl  had  been  lured, 
and  they  were  also  recovered. 

Almost  at  the  beginning  of  my  experience  I  received  a  pen- 
ciled note  which  I  have  kept  on  my  desk  as  a  stimulus  to  my  ener- 
gies and  my  watchfulness  along  the  line  of  checkmating  the  work 
of  the  White  Slavers.  It  is  very  brief  and  terse — but  what  a 
story  it  tells !  Here  is  a  copy  of  it — with  the  substitution  of  a 
fictitious  name : 

"Ellen  Holmes  has  been  sold  for  $50.00  to  Madam  Blank's 
house  at Armour  avenue." 

The  statement  was  true — and  the  man  who  sold  her  and  the 
woman  who  bought  her  were  both  sent  to  the  state  penitentiary 
as  a  penalty  for  the  transaction. 

Another  fact  which  the  public  finds  hard  to  believe — espe- 
cially the  public  of  mothers — is  that  girls  who  are  lured  into  the 
life  of  shame  find  it  impossible  to  make  their  escape,  and  that 
they  are  prisoners  and  slaves  in  every  sense  of  the  word.  I  recall 
one  instance  of  a  girl  from  a  good  home  who  had  fallen  into  the 
hands  of  a  White  Slave  trader  and  been  sold  to  a  house  in  the 
red-light  district.  Her  people  were  frantic  over  her  disappear- 
ance and  made  every  possible  effort  to  locate  her,  but  without 
success.  Several  months  after  the  excitement  and  publicity 
aroused  by  her  disappearance  died  away,  a  newsboy  who  had 
delivered  papers  at  her  home — which  was  in  a  very  good  resi- 
dence district  of  the  city — happened  to  be  passing  along  a  cross 


24 

street  of  the  red-light  section — just  on  the  fringes  of  it,  in  fact. 
Suddenly  he  heard  a  tap  on  the  window,  looked  up  and  saw  the 
anxious  face  of  the  lost  girl.     Then  she  disappeared. 

Knowing  the  story  of  her  strange  disappearance,  he  hurried 
straight  to  her  home  and  told  of  his  experience.  Instantly  the 
father  secured  officers  and  the  little  newsboy  led  the  posse  back 
to  the  house,  in  the  window  of  which  he  had  caught  a  glimpse 
of  her  face.  They  raided  the  place  and  rescued  the  girl.  The 
story  of  the  terrible  treatment  which  she  had  received  cannot  be 
told  here.  It  is  enough  to  say  that  she  had  been  held  as  a  cap- 
tive, imprisoned  as  much  as  any  inmate  of  a  penitentiary  is  im- 
prisoned, and  that  if  the  friendly  newsboy  had  not  happened  to 
pass,  as  he  did,  the  window  from  which  she  was  looking  out,  she 
would  undoubtedly  be  there  today  or  in  some  other  similar  prison 
of  shame  through  the  process  of  exchange. 

One  other  matter  in  this  connection  needs  to  come  in  for 
clear  and  decisive  emphasis :  the  fact  that  the  runaway  marriage 
is  the  favorite  device  of  the  White  Slaver  for  landing  victims 
who  could  not  otherwise  be  entrapped.  Those  alleged  summer 
resorts  and  excursion  centers  which  are  well  advertised  as  Gretna 
Greens,  and  as  places  where  the  usual  legal  and  official  formali- 
ties preliminary  to  respectable  marriage  are  reduced  to  a  mini- 
mum, are  star  recruiting  stations  for  the  White  Slave  traffic. 
I  have  never  seen  this  point  brought  out  with  any  degree  of  clear- 
ness in  any  article,  and  I  earnestly  urge  all  mothers  to  give  this 
statement  the  most  serious  consideration,  and  never  to  allow  a 
daughter  to  go  to  one  of  these  places  on  an  excursion,  or  under 
any  pretext  whatever,  unless  accompanied  by  some  older  mem- 
ber of  the  family.  And  even  then  there  is  something  unwhole- 
some and  contaminating  in  the  very  atmosphere  of  such  a  place. 

Do  you  think  that  I  overstate  the  perils  of  places  of  this 
kind?  Of  these  gay  excursion  centers,  these  American  Gretna 
Greens?  I  hesitate  to  say  how  many  girls  I  have  had  under  my 
care  who  were  enticed  into  a  "runaway  marriage"  at  these  places 
— and  then  promptly  sold  into  white  slavery  by  the  men  whom  they 


25 

had  married,  the  men  who  married  them  for  no  other  purpose 
than  to  sell  them  to  the  houses  of  the  red-light  district  and  live 
in  luxury  from  the  proceeds  of  their  shame. 

Let  every  mother  teach  her  daughter  that  the  man  who  pro- 
poses an  elopement,  a  runaway  marriage,  is  not  to  be  trusted  for 
an  instant,  and  puts  himself  under  suspicion  of  being  that  most 
loathsome  of  all  things  in  human  form — a  White  Slave  trader ! 


SKETCH  VII 


Next  on  the  list  comes  a  sketch  by  Ella  Wheeler  Wilcox, 
dealing  with  quite  another  type  of  wronged  girlhood,  but  just  as 
pitiable. 

Advice  for  the  Erring,  by  Ella  Wheeler  Wilcox. 

A  young  woman  from  Boston  (which  town  I  heard  called 
recently  the  wickedest  city  in  America)  writes  me  a  very  sad 
letter  and  asks  for  advice,  which  will  be  easier  to  give  than  to 
follow. 

Briefly,  this  is  her  life :  Orphaned  and  penniless  at  the  age 
of  sixteen,  she  obtained  a  position  as  companion  for  an  invalid 
lady.  The  husband  of  the  invalid  seemed  to  the  young  girl  at 
first  like  the  father  she  had  never  known.  He  was  so  tender  and 
kind  to  her. 

But  before  she  knew  what  it  meant  to  go  wrong  she  had  been 
led  into  the  maze  from  which  exit  is  so  difficult  by  the  "kind  and 
tender"  foster-father.  Finally  he  importuned  her  to  elope  with 
him,  but  she  realized  the  enormity  of  such  a  sin  against  the  man's 
wife,  and  fled  from  the  house.  She  had  no  friends,  no  door  was 


26 

open  to  her ;  there  were  hands  held  out  to  drag  her  down,  none 
to  lead  her  up. 

The  intellectual  tendency  of  Boston  does  not  prevent  the  ani- 
mal in  man  from  asserting  itself  there  as  elsewhere.  She  fell  still 
lower. 

At  twenty-one  the  girl  suddenly  found  her  heart  occupied  by 
a  new  emotion.  She  loved  a  man  for  the  first  time — loved  him 
deeply,  purely,  unselfishly,  as  any  innocent  girl  might  love. 

For  this  man  she  has  abandoned  all  her  evil  ways  and  com- 
panions, living  only  for  his  approval,  his  smile,  his  affection. 

"He  is  so  good  to  me,"  she  says,  "but  he  never  speaks  of 
marriage.  I  would  make  him  such  a  true  wife!  I  long  to 
be  the  mother  of  his  children — there  is  nothing  I  would  not  sac- 
rifice or  do  for  his  happiness.  Do  you  think  he  will  ever  make 
me  his  wife  ?  What  can  I  do  to  win  him  for  my  own  forever  ?  I 
shall  die  if  he  ever  leaves  me — I  could  not  live  without  him." 

This  is  all  terribly  sad.  I  would  like  to  encourage  the  girl 
to  believe  that  her  lover  will  make  her  his  wife,  but  I  cannot. 

She  is  every  whit  as  good  as  he  is — were  she  not  he  would 
never  have  met  her.  He  was  not  walking  the  straight  and  intel- 
lectual paths  of  Boston's  purest  social  heights  when  he  encoun- 
tered her.  Her  past  is  probably  no  more  checkered  than  his  own. 
It  is  doubtful  if  his  nature  is  capable  of  so  much  sincere  and 
worthy  affection  as  hers  seems  to  be. 

She  would  make  him  a  more  devoted  wife  than  half  the  friv- 
olous society  girls  men  meet  and  do  not  hesitate  to  marry. 

Yet  he  will  hesitate  to  make  this  woman  his  wife.  Most 
men  would.  It  is  her  only  hope  of  reformation,  but  few  men  are 
so  ready  to  guide  fallen  women  to  a  better  life  through  the  gates 
of  matrimony.  Occasionally  we  hear  of  one  who  has  the  courage 
to  take  such  a  step,  but  it  is  rare  indeed  when  a  woman  who  has 
led  a  promiscuously  immoral  life  proves  worthy  of  a  man's  faith 
in  her.  When  she  does  she  is  usually  more  devoted  and  unselfish 
and  faithful  than  the  great  mass  of  moral  wives. 

This  woman  seems  to  have  the  character  and  feeling  which 


27 

would  place  her  in  this  exceptional  list.  But  the  man  judges  her 
by  the  majority.  There  is  one  thing  for  her  to  comfort  herself 
with,  and  that  is  that  the  only  experience  which  makes  life  worth 
living  is  a  great  love  such  as  she  feels.  There  are  moral,  spotless 
women  who  go  through  existence  without  even  knowing  what  it 
is  to  love  absolutely  and  completely,  with  full  self-surrender. 
Their  ideas  of  love  are  petty,  narrow,  mercenary  and  selfish. 

This  woman  need  not  envy  them.  She  has  reached  a  higher 
spiritual  plane  than  they,  even  though  she  has  climbed  through 
mire  and  flame  to  reach  it. 

Let  her  try  to  live  worthy  of  this  feeling  which  dominates 
her.  No  matter  what  occurs,  let  her  resolve  never  to  debase  the 
love  which  has  brought  forth  the  true  womanhood  within  her 
nature.  That  would  be  the  unpardonable  sin.  Worse  women 
have  become  wives  of  better  men.  If  she  loves  patiently  and  per- 
sistently enough  the  desire  of  her  heart  may  be  realized.  But 
if  it  is  not,  at  least  she  can  be  thankful  that  out  of  the  ruin  of  her 
youth  she  has  found  what  true  womanhood  means.  Some  women 
never  find  this  out. 

It  is  unwise  for  any  woman  to  say  in  this  age  that  she  cannot 
live  unless  some  one  hope  of  her  heart  is  granted.  Women  are 
learning  that  they  can  live  and  be  useful  and  contented,  even 
when  happiness  is  gone.  Never  in  the  world  were  there  such 
opportunities  for  women  as  today — never  such  hope  for  erring 
women  to  reform  and  become  useful  members  of  society. 

The  days  of  the  "Scarlet  Letter"  are  past.  A  woman  who 
has  fallen  may  rise  again  if  she  has  the  character  and  self-control 
to  do  so,  and  she  may  accomplish  much  good  in  the  world,  just 
as  fallen  men  rise  and  become  useful  citizens.  The  world  is  be- 
ginning to  realize  that  there  is  no  sex  in  sin. 

There  are  other  cities  besides  Boston  where  this  woman 
could  begin  a  new  life,  were  her  hope  of  happiness  taken  from 
her  heart  forever. 

Let  her  not  despair. 


SKETCH  VIII 


This  experience  is  of  a  girl's  life  whom  we  will  call  Minnie. 
It  differs  greatly  from  those  previously  given  in  this  respect,  she 
never  was  a  "White  Slave,"  neither  is  she  a  sporting  woman,  and 
a  very  brief  sketch  is  given  to  show  how  many  people  that  are 
posing  as  very  good  and  sometimes  even  religious  do  not  hesitate 
to  ruin  the  character  of  a  girl  or  woman  in  the  eyes  of  the  world 
if  not  actually  if  they  can  gain  financially  by  it.  Some  girls  meet 
with  so  much  unjust  and  undeserving  ill-treatment  at  the  hands 
of  influential  people  and  often  by  those  that  should  help  instead 
of  hinder  that  they  often  get  discouraged,  make  a  mistep,  lose 
their  grip  and  go  down.  Some  rise  again,  but  many  more  never 
do.  Some  people  that  imagine  they  are  the  best  people  on  earth 
will  find  a  very  black  record  of  slanders,  insinuations,  lies,  trick- 
ery and  many  other  acts  of  meanness  that  cannot  be  enumerated 
here,  against  them  in  heaven,  or  I  should  say  that  will  debar  them 
from  heaven.  Just  what  is  meant  by  these  remarks  can  be  better 
understood  as  you  read  the  sketch  through. 

Minnie  was  raised  in  the  East  on  a  farm,  where  she  lived 
until  nearly  15,  a  very  busy  life,  helping  her  parents  indoors  and 
out,  as  she  was  the  eldest  of  the  children.  The  mother,  a  delicate 
little  woman,  and  her  father  had  been  a  soldier  in  the  Civil  War, 
came  out  crippled  in  his  right  arm,  which  was  stiff  at  the  elbow 
and  was  not  much  account.  He  had  other  disabilities  from  the 
effects  of  the  war  and  for  this  reason  Minnie  exerted  her  most  to 
help  them,  and  at  15  started  out  to  work  her  own  way  through  to 
secure  an  education.  She  worked  very  hard  and  faithfully  for 
two  years  and  then  was  compelled  to  give  up  her  quest  for  a 
higher  education.  She  was  too  frail  for  such  a  strenuous  life. 
Long  hard  lessons  to  be  learned  at  night,  lots  of  hard  work  all  day 
when  not  away  at  the  school  room,  and  no  rest  during  vacation, 
as  money  must  be  earned  to  buy  clothes  for  next  winter.  It  is 
not  to  be  wondered  at  that  her  strength  failed  her.  She  went  home 


29 

and  tried  to  persuade  her  father  to  let  her  have  some  money  to 
help  her  along,  but  he  did  not  encourage  her  in  words,  even  much 
less  money,  as  she  knew  he  could  have  managed  to  do  so  if  he  had 
cared  to  do  so.  She  felt  greatly  hurt  at  his  indifference  to  her 
future,  as  she  knew  she  had  worked  hard  enough  from  the  time 
she  was  big  enough  to  work  to  be  deserving  of  some  help  to  secure 
an  education.  She  stayed  at  home  for  awhile  and  helped  her 
mother,  but  when  she  needed  any  money  she  had  to  go  out  and 
earn  it,  and  in  a  fit  of  discouragement  accepted  one  of  several  pro- 
posals of  marriage  and  was  married  on  her  seventeenth  birthday 
to  a  man  nine  years  her  senior.  He  was  considered  a  very  good 
man,  had  a  good  trade,  made  lots  of  money.  All  went  well  and 
she  was  very  happy  and  contented  in  her  cozy  home  until  her 
mother  took  ill  and  finally  died,  when  she  had  been  married  a 
little  over  a  year.  The  following  spring  her  husband  decided  he 
could  do  better  in  the  West,  and  left  for  Washington,  but  Minnie 
could  not  think  of  leaving  her  motherless  brothers  and  sisters  so 
soon  after  the  mother  died,  so  persuaded  him  to  go  on  without 
her  and  look  around,  find  a  location  and  get  settled,  then  she  would 
come  to  him.  In  the  meantime  she  could  be  drilling  the  little  girls 
for  their  new  duties.  She  stayed  with  them  several  months,  or 
until  the  next  November  after  her  husband  left  in  the  spring,  a 
very  unwise  thing  for  her  to  do,  as  she  found  later  to  her  sorrow. 
While  she  was  doing  a  sister's  duty  and  keeping  her  promise  to 
the  dying  mother  to  do  all  she  could  for  her  brothers  and  sisters 
the  husband  was  changing  in  some  respects.  He  began  writing 
her  about  the  prospects  for  business.  It  turned  out  to  be  the 
saloon  business,  and  as  soon  as  he  let  her  know  she  told  him  in 
very  plain  English  he  must  chose  between  her  and  the  saloon,  as 
she  would  not  live  with  a  man  that  would  run  one.  He  was  angry, 
but  said  no  more  about  it.  When  she  arrived  in  her  new  home 
she  saw  he  was  greatly  changed  in  many  ways. 

Her  trip  had  been  quite  interesting  to  her,  as  she  had  never 
been  very  far  from  home,  especially  to  travel  by  herself.  She 
visited  relatives  in  several  places  in  Southern  Michigan  and  an 


30 

aunt  in  Wabash,  Indiana,  Mrs.  Flinn,  and  finally  bought  a  ticket 
for  Albany,  Oregon.  She  expected  to  make  the  trip  in  five  and  a 
half  days,  but  instead  was  eight  and  a  half  days,  and  no  fault  of 
hers,  either.  Going  from  Wabash  to  Chicago  she  changed  cars 
once,  was  due  in  Chicago  at  10  p.  m.,  but  the  New  York  train 
had  been  wrecked  and  caused  a  delay;  she  did  not  arrive  until 
midnight  and  the  train  she  should  have  taken  out  for  Oregon  had 
gone  long  ago.  There  was  no  train  leaving  for  that  place  until 
5  o'clock  next  evening,  but  she  improved  the  time  in  company  with 
an  elderly  lady  and  looked  around  Chicago  a  little.  In  Kansas 
City  the  train  was  five  minutes  late,  so  missed  her  train  again, 
but  did  not  care  much,  as  she  had  an  opportunity  of  looking  over 
the  city  of  Kansas.  She  got  acquainted  with  a  big  family  party 
going  to  California  and  altogether  they  traveled  over  the  city  of 
Kansas  and  had  a  jolly  time,  and  at  8  that  evening  took  the  train 
to  resume  their  journey. 

The  next  day  was  a  very  tiresome  one,  as  it  was  over  endless 
prairie  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  and  when  the  train  pulled 
into  Colorado  Springs  that  evening  many  of  the  passengers  were 
glad  to  get  off  the  train  and  make  some  kind  of  change.  Minnie 
could  have  remained  on  the  same  train  or  she  could  stay  all  night 
in  that  place  and  take  a  train  early  next  morning,  or  just  wait  one 
hour  and  take  the  train  that  made  a  short  cut  on  the  the  narrow 
gauge  road  to  Salina,  arriving  there  about  4  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing. She  would  then  have  until  5  o'clock  until  next  evening  to 
rest  in.  She  would  have  stayed  in  Colorado  Springs,  but  as  she 
was  asking  questions  in  regard  to  the  different  trains  a  drummer 
for  a  tobacco  firm,  as  she  afterwards  found  out,  stepped  up  and 
listened  to  her  questions.  As  he  had  come  in  on  the  same  train 
and  pretended  to  need  some  information  too,  but  in  reality  only 
edging  around  for  a  chance  to  talk  to  her.  She  sat  down  with 
the  intention  of  considering  whether  she  had  better  stay  all  night 
there  or  go  on  to  Salina.  But  she  had  no  time  to  think  before  the 
drummer  was  by  her  side  asking  all  manner  of  questions.  "Where 
had  she  started  from,"  "Where  was  she  going,"  "how  long  had 


3i 

she  been  on  the  road,"  and  when  she  told  him  he  decided  for  her 
that  the  best  thing  for  her  was  for  her  to  stay  over  in  that  place, 
and  go  on  in  the  morning.  As  he  was  well  acquainted  in  the  city 
and  knew  where  he  could  get  her  a  fine  room,  and  was  traveling 
in  the  same  direction  as  herself,  and  would  be  delighted  to  have 
her  for  a  traveling  companion.  He  knew  he  could  make  it  very 
pleasant  for  her,  as  he  always  traveled  first  class.  After  asking 
a  few  questions  at  first  he  talked  so  fast  she  had  no  chance  to 
consent  or  object.  Then  he  jumped  up  and  rushed  away  up  town 
to  engage  the  lovely  room  he  talked  so  much  about,  bring  a  cab 
for  her,  as  it  was  too  far  for  her  to  walk,  and  all  conveyances  had 
left  the  depot  before  they  had  all  got  through  asking  the  ticket 
agent  questions.  Minnie  realized  the  drummer  talked  fast  for  a 
purpose.  He  took  her  to  be  a  timid  little  "greenie,"  and  his  plan 
was  to  carry  her  ofT  bodily  without  giving  her  a  chance  to  protest, 
but  as  fast  as  he  went  he  had  not  got  out  of  the  door  before  her 
mind  was  made  up  not  to  go  up  town  with  him,  no  matter  how 
much  he  might  bluster  when  he  came  back.  The  ticket  agent  was 
a  young  man  of  very  noble  appearance  and  had  remained  at  the 
ticket  window  while  the  drummer  had  been  talking  to  Minnie, 
and  took  notice  of  what  he  said  and  how  he  acted  and  as  soon  as 
he  was  gone  the  agent  came  out  and  sat  down  by  her,  as  he  had 
nothing  to  do  at  that  time,  and  they  were  alone  in  the  depot.  He 
asked  her  a  few  questions  concerning  her  journey  and  then  pro- 
ceeded to  advise  her  to  go  to  Salina  and  added  he  didn't  think  it 
best  for  her  to  accept  that  drummer's  assistance.  She  laughed 
and  said  she  had  made  up  her  mind  before  he  had  gone  out  of  the 
door  not  to  go  with  him,  but  as  he  had  taken  everything  for 
granted  and  had  left  at  such  a  rate  of  speed  she  thought  it  might 
cause  him  an  accident  if  she  tried  to  stop  him.  The  agent  laughed 
and  said  it  served  him  right  and  for  her  to  be  sure  and  not  go 
with  him,  and  he  could  be  on  the  watch  for  him  and  protect  her 
if  she  needed  it,  and  when  the  train  came  in  he  would  escort  her 
personally  to  it,  and  for  her  to  wait  for  him,  as  he  would  not  have 
much  to  do.    She  had  not  long  to  wait,  as  the  train  was  on  time, 


32 

and  so  was  the  agent,  but  he  had  barely  got  out  of  the  car  after 
finding  her  a  seat  before  in  came  the  drummer  all  in  a  flurry  as 
much  or  more  so  than  when  he  left  to  go  up  town.  Minnie  was 
occupying  two  seats  with  her  valise  and  lunch  basket  setting  in 
the  vacant  one.  She  sat  facing  him  as  he  rushed  in  at  the  door, 
saying  as  he  came :  "Oh,  why  didn't  you  wait.  I've  got  such  a 
fine  room.  Cab  out  here,"  and  so  forth.  He  made  a  grab  at  her 
valise  and  basket.  She  rose  up  and  laid  hold  of  her  belongings 
and  calmly  told  him  to  take  his  hands  off  her  belongings.  She 
had  not  asked  him  to  secure  rooms  for  her,  and  had  given  her  no 
chance  to  object  to  his  proceedings.  Therefore  if  he  had  such  a 
nice  room  engaged  he  could  go  and  occupy  it.  He  went  out  of 
that  car  like  a  bean  out  of  a  popgun  and  his  coattails  flying.  Peo- 
ple sitting  near  looked  up  in  wild-eyed  surprise  at  the  flurry,  but 
in  a  second  had  taken  in  the  situation  and  the  look  of  surprise 
soon  changed  to  one  of  amazement,  especially  four  gentlemen  in 
front  of  her,  who  sat  facing  each  other  and  apparently  having  a 
very  sociable  time.  By  the  time  the  drummer  was  out  of  the  door 
their  shoulders  were  shaking  with  suppressed  laughter  and  one 
remarked  in  a  stage  whisper,  "Very  young,  but  not  so  green  evi- 
dently."   Minnie  was  nearly  19,  but  looked  younger. 

She  soon  settled  down  for  a  nap  and  about  midnight  the 
brakeman  roused  her  to  see  the  grand  canyon  by  moonlight,  as 
the  narrow  gauge  runs  through  the  grand  canyon,  and  that  par- 
ticular night  happened  to  be  one  of  those  clear  moonlight  nights 
like  they  usually  are  in  mid-winter.  The  sight  was  truly  grand 
and  she  was  very  thankful  to  the  brakeman  for  not  letting  her 
miss  it.  A  young  girl  sitting  in  the  seat  just  behind  her  went  into 
raptures  over  it  and  in  that  way  they  got  acquainted.  Minnie 
found  she  was  returning  home  from  boarding  school,  that  her 
parents  lived  near  Salina,  so  that  was  her  stopping  place  also. 
The  girl  was  well  acquainted  in  town,  even  knew  the  porter 
slightly  that  met  the  midnight  trains.  They  both  went  to  his  hotel 
which  was  only  a  few  steps  from  where  the  train  stopped,  and 
proved  to  be  a  very  good  one,  cozily  furnished  and  heated  by  fur- 


33 

nace.  The  young  lady  did  not  wish  to  take  a  room,  as  her  folks 
would  be  in  early  for  her,  so  Minnie  decided  to  keep  her  company. 
They  inspected  the  bath  room  and  found  it  very  good  and  pro- 
ceeded each  to  take  one,  and  then  cuddled  up  on  the  big  easy 
lounges  in  the  parlor,  where  they  rested  well  until  8  o'clock,  and 
then  took  a  walk  around  town  and  had  breakfast.  Then  the  young 
girl's  people  called  for  her  and  Minnie  was  left  to  pass  the  rest 
of  the  day  alone.  She  went  back  to  the  hotel,  had  another  nap, 
but  a  disturbed  one,  as  the  head  chamber  maid  came  in  quite 
often  and  took  out  linen  from  a  closet  behind  the  parlor  door,  also 
to  dust  and  tidy  up  the  parlor.  She  was  a  very  wicked  looking 
unintelligent  woman,  nevertheleess  Minnie  was  so  lonesome  she 
would  have  been  glad  even  if  she  had  talked  a  little  to  her,  but 
she  paid  no  more  attention  to  Minnie's  presence  than  as  if  she 
had  been  a  piece  of  the  furniture.  The  only  discrimination  she 
showed  was  she  didn't  offer  to  dust  Minnie  along  with  the  furni- 
ture. Her  indifference  was  more  noticeable  by  Minnie,  for  where- 
ver she  went  people  paid  her  so  much  attention.  When  the  gong 
sounded  for  lunch  she  decided  to  eat  at  the  hotel  and  proceeded 
at  once  to  the  dining  room.  As  she  was  descending  the  stairway 
she  noticed  that  two  immense  arches  on  either  side  made  the  din- 
ing room,  hall  and  office  appear  nearly  like  one  immense  room. 
In  the  office  part  were  three  men,  one  evidently  clerk,  as  he  was 
behind  the  counter,  the  others  were  tilted  back  in  chairs  smoking. 
One  sat  facing  the  stairway,  quite  a  nice  looking  man,  25  or  30 
years  old  with  a  well  bred  air,  and  as  soon  as  he  noticed  her  com- 
ing down  the  stairway  he  quickly  brought  his  chair  and  feet  on 
a  level  with  the  floor,  tipped  the  ash  from  his  cigar  and  stared 
quite  rudely  at  her,  but  she  thought  it  was  only  because  she  was 
a  stranger  and  likely  he  was  the  landlord,  and  not  knowing  she 
was  in  the  house,  as  she  had  not  registered.  It  was  more  notice- 
able as  there  were  not  many  people  around,  it  being  a  small  quiet 
place.  After  she  ate  her  lunch  she  started  to  walk  up  to  where 
the  clerk  was  to  pay  for  her  dinner,  and  the  young  man  in  the 
chair  jumped  up  and  announced  that  he  was  the  landlord  and  at 


34 

her  service,  if  there  was  anything  she  wanted.  She  said  she  only 
wanted  to  pay  for  her  dinner,  and  as  she  reached  the  top  of  the 
stairway  the  jolly  crowd  was  coming  in  for  lunch.  She  glanced 
down  at  them  and  saw  that  the  landlord  was  standing  just  where 
she  had  left  him  only  looking  up  at  her,  and  she  said  to  herself : 
"Well,  you  have  very  bad  manners  if  you  do  look  like  a  gentle- 
man." She  proceeded  to  the  parlor,  seated  herself  comfortably 
in  a  big  leather  rocker  by  the  bay  window  where  she  had  a  good 
view  of  the  landscape  and  what  was  going  on  outside.  She  soon 
tired  of  that  and  decided  to  take  another  nap,  as  her  train  was  not 
due  until  5  p.  m.,  but  just  as  she  had  come  to  that  conclusion  in 
came  Mr.  Landlord,  different  and  smiling,  and  proceeded  to  make 
himself  agreeable  by  pleasant  conversation,  finally  veering  around 
to  questions  as  to  where  she  had  started  from,  where  she  was 
going,  and  a  host  of  others,  then  proceeded  to  try  and  persuade 
her  to  stay  over  Sunday  in  this  little  town,  as  this  was  Saturday. 
He  thought  the  rest  would  do  her  much  good  and  he  would  be 
delighted  to  show  her  what  beautiful  drives  they  had  and  other 
show  places  of  interest  to  travelers,  but  she  wasn't  to  be  persuaded 
to  doing  anything  of  the  kind,  although  he  said  all  a  stranger 
could  to  make  her  stay,  and  repeated  the  question  so  many  times 
and  finally  looked  and  acted  as  though  he  might  drop  on  his  knees 
and  make  love  to  her.  She  grew  angry  at  that,  said  she  was  not 
traveling  for  her  health  or  pleasure  on  a  ticket  that  allowed  her 
stopovers  anywhere  she  saw  fit,  and  as  it  was  she  was  liable  to 
miss  a  wedding  and  Christmas  festivities  at  her  uncle's  home 
where  she  was  going.  Then  as  he  saw  that  it  was  of  no  avail  he 
desisted  in  pleading  for  her  to  stay  and  said :  "Well,  if  I  cannot 
persuade  you  to  spend  Sunday  with  us  let  me  give  you  a  fine  din- 
ner before  you  leave.  We  will  order  it  early  enough  so  that  we 
will  have  plenty  of  time  to  enjoy  it  before  your  train  arrives.  She 
declined  with  thanks  and  said  as  she  had  eaten  heartily  at  lunch 
it  would  be  too  early  to  eat  again  before  train  time.  "Oh,  that 
reminds  me,"  he  said,  "that  train  will  be  at  least  an  hour  late. 
There  has  been  an  accident  up  the  road,  but  if  you  are  determined 


35 

to  go  I  will  send  a  porter  to  carry  your  valise,  so  don't  go  until  he 
comes  after  you."  He  had  not  been  gone  fifteen  minutes  from 
the  room  until  in  came  the  chambermaid  with  the  wicked  face. 
Now  she  was  as  "chipper"  and  talkative  as  she  had  been  glum  in 
the  morning.  Fussed  all  round  the  room  doing  nothing  and  asked 
Minnie  all  manner  of  questions  and  wound  up  by  saying  there 
had  been  an  accident  up  the  road,  and  her  train  would  be  quite 
late,  so  she  better  have  a  good  dinner  before  starting  out.  Minnie 
was  feeling  quite  a  suspicion  of  some  kind  of  conspiracy  by  this 
time,  so  as  soon  as  the  woman  left  the  room  she  put  on  her  wraps 
and  went  down  town,  which  was  not  far  away,  and  bought  some 
fruit.  Went  into  the  depot  and  asked  the  ticket  agent  if  there 
had  been  a  wreck  and  if  the  5  o'clock  train  was  delayed  by  it.  He 
was  a  heavy  set,  middle-aged  man.  He  looked  at  her  for  several 
seconds  before  answering  and  then  said :  "No,  miss,  not  that  I 
know  of,  and  I  would  know  if  anyone  would.  Why  do  you  ask  ?" 
"I  was  informed  at  the  hotel  that  there  had  been,  and  the  5  o'clock 
train  would  be  at  least  an  hour  late."  His  face  grew  angry  red 
and  his  eyes  flashed  as  though  he  was  thinking  of  some  one  he 
would  like  to  have  by  the  neck  long  enough  to  give  him  a  good 
choking.  Then  he  said  to  her  very  kindly :  "There  has  been  no 
accident  and  your  train  will  be  here  on  time  at  5  o'clock  sharp, 
and  you  be  sure  to  be  here  to  take  it."  As  she  stepped  out  of  the 
depot  to  go  over  to  the  hotel  the  landlord  was  pacing  up  and  down 
in  front  of  it,  but  as  soon  as  Minnie  emerged  from  the  depot  he 
turned  and  walked  to  the  farthest  end  of  the  platform,  so  as  not 
to  face  her.  The  train  was  on  time  and  so  was  the  porter  to  carry 
her  valise.  As  she  started  to  get  on  the  train  who  should  she 
see  standing  on  the  platform  of  the  sleeping  car  but  the  drummer 
she  had  left  "in  the  lovely  room  at  Colorado  Springs."  So  she 
got  into  a  day  coach,  as  she  didn't  wish  to  be  in  the  same  car  with 
him.  She  was  quite  sure  he  was  out  there  on  purpose  to  see  if 
she  was  there  to  take  the  train.  She  made  herself  as  comfortable 
in  the  day  coach  as  possible,  and  all  went  well  until  midnight, 
when  the  train  stopped  at  a  junction  in  the  mountains.     Quite  a 


36 

crowd  of  people  boarded  the  train  here  and  many  that  had  been 
occupying  two  seats  had  to  give  them  up.  Minnie  was  among 
the  number.  She  removed  her  belongings  from  the  seat  in  front 
of  her,  touched  a  man  on  the  elbow  that  was  standing  in  the  aisle 
near  her  and  told  him  if  he  would  like  the  seat  over  he  could  have 
it.  The  next  morning  this  same  man  commenced  talking  to  her 
and  continued  to  keep  the  conversation  up  all  day,  and  sometimes 
his  companion  joined  in.  He  finally  grew  tired  of  sitting  side- 
ways and  talking,  so  after  walking  around  a  while  the  train 
stopped  at  a  station,  he  came  in  and  asked  permission  to  sit  in  her 
seat.  Thinking  he  would  only  sit  there  a  little  while  she  gave  her 
permission,  as  she  did  not  want  to  appear  rude,  although  she  did 
not  especially  care  for  his  company,  as  she  didn't  like  his  looks, 
although  he  claimed  to  be  a  teacher ;  also  his  friend  that  was  with 
him,  and  they  looked  like  men  of  some  such  profession,  but  the 
one  doing  the  talking  did  not  impress  Minnie  in  either  looks  or 
conversation  as  being  a  very  good  man,  and  it  annoyed  her  ex- 
ceedingly when  he  persisted  in  retaining  a  seat  with  her  the  rest 
of  the  day,  and  finally  trying  to  persuade  her  to  stop  over  at  Salt 
Lake  City,  as  she  might  never  be  passing  that  way  again,  and  he 
and  his  friend  would  be  glad  to  show  her  the  city.  She  told  him 
that  she  had  heard  and  read  such  terrible  stories  about  the  Mor- 
mon fathers  that  she  had  no  desire  whatever  to  set  foot  in  their 
city,  much  less  to  go  on  a  tour  of  sight-seeing  with  utter  strangers, 
who  for  ought  she  knew  might  be  an  agent  of  theirs.  This  made 
the  man's  face  blaze  and  he  protested  strongly  and  repeated  that 
he  and  his  friend  were  teachers,  traveling  a  little  during  their 
vacation  for  recreation  and  had  decided  to  put  most  of  the  time 
in  at  Salt  Lake  City,  and  then  return  to  work  again.  They  were 
then  only  a  few  stops  from  the  city.  At  one  place  they  both  went 
out  and  the  one  that  had  not  said  much  soon  came  back  in  and 
remarked  that  he  thought  she  would  be  very  tired  sitting  still  so 
long  and  asked  permission  to  hand  her  a  drink  of  water  and  then 
take  her  out  for  a  short  promenade  before  the  train  would  start 
again.    A  feeling  of  distrust  flashed  over  Minnie  and  she  declined 


37 

his  offer  very  shortly.  They  did  not  come  back  in  the  car  then, 
until  Salt  Lake  City  was  reached,  and  then  only  to  get  their  lug- 
gage and  bid  her  a  polite  farewell. 

There  had  been  a  young  man  sitting  just  back  of  Minnie.  He 
had  talked  with  her  awhile  soon  after  she  had  got  on  the  train 
the  evening  before.  He  was  a  blacksmith  by  trade,  but  had  been 
very  sick  with  some  fever  and  was  going  to  California  for  awhile. 
He  wasn't  so  refined  in  manner  and  speech  as  the  other  men,  but 
he  evidently  was  a  more  honorable  one  in  character.  He  didn't 
like  the  looks  of  these  other  men  that  monopolized  Minnie's  atten- 
tion all  day,  so  paid  attention  to  their  conversation  as  much  as 
possible  and  never  left  the  car  himself,  and  when  these  men  were 
leaving  the  car  at  Salt  Lake  City  he  gave  a  rather  boisterous 
laugh.  She  turned  to  see  what  he  was  laughing  at.  He  leaned 
towards  her  and  said : 

"If  those  guys  had  tried  to  get  you  off  the  car  in  any  way 
they  would  have  found  themselves  in  the  liveliest  mix-up  they 
ever  heard  of.  I  don't  think  they  are  teachers,  either,  but  make 
a  business  of  traveling  around  the  country  enticing  young  girls 
to  go  to  Salt  Lake  City  or  other  places.  They  would  turn  out  to 
be  anything  but  good.  That  fellow  put  something  in  that  cup  of 
water  before  offering  it  to  you.  I  was  watching  him  and  would 
have  knocked  him,  cup  and  all  clear  out  of  the  car  door  had  you 
offered  to  take  the  cup,  but  as  you  was  equal  to  the  occasion  there 
was  no  need  for  me  to  interfere.  I  would  hate  to  have  a  girl  like 
you  give  me  a  look  like  you  gave  that  fellow  as  you  refused  that 
cup  of  water.  I  bet  he  thought  you  saw  him  put  that  dope  in  the 
cup,  but  I  know  you  didn't,  as  you  were  not  looking  at  him  the 
moment  he  did.  I  guess  you'll  get  along  all  right.  Your  head 
is  level  and  too  full  of  good  common  sense  to  listen  to  flattery. 
A  common  trap  such  men  use  to  trap  girls  with.  That  fellow 
aimed  to  get  you  to  drink  that  doped  water,  then  go  out  to  walk 
around  with  him.  You  would  have  fainted,  or  that  is  what  they 
would  have  called  it,  and  claimed  you  as  his  wife  or  sister  while 
you  were  unconscious.    They  would  not  have  taken  you  back  in 


38 

the  train,  but  instead  would  have  placed  you  where  you  would 
have  been  at  their  mercy." 

That  evening  when  the  train  was  only  a  short  dis- 
tance from  Salt  Lake  City  their  train  ran  into  an  open 
switch  and  was  wrecked.  Fortunately  no  one  was  hurt  but 
the  engineer,  and  he  not  seriously,  as  he  jumped  at  the  last 
moment.  The  engine  was  a  complete  wreck  and  rolled  over  in  a 
big  ditch  beside  the  track.  The  baggage  car  was  off  the  track 
and  badly  smashed  up.  The  mail  car  was  off  the  track,  but  not 
otherwise  damaged.  All  the  passenger  coaches  were  left  on  the 
track,  consequently  no  one  hurt,  but  Minnie  was  just  in  the  act 
of  yawning  and  the  sudden  jerking  caused  her  to  bite  her  tongue. 
After  waiting  an  hour  or  more  the  railroad  company  sent  out  some 
freight  car  cabooses  and  took  the  passengers  on  to  Ogden.  There 
were  so  many  and  only  two  or  three  cabooses  they  had  to  pack 
the  people  in  as  tight  as  sardines  in  a  box.  The  most  of  them  had 
to  stand  up.  The  caboose  Minnie  was  in  they  had  a  red-hot  stove 
in  the  middle  of  the  car,  and  of  course  every  one  crowded  back 
as  far  as  possible  from  the  stove.  Not  only  was  it  uncomfortably 
warm,  but  there  was  danger  of  being  thrown  on  the  stove  if  the 
car  should  lurch  enough  to  throw  one  off  their  feet.  Minnie  was 
among  others  next  to  the  door,  in  fact  crowded  back  in  a  corner 
till  she  could  hardly  breathe,  and  behind  her  was  someone  else 
jammed  so  tight  in  the  corner  he  could  not  get  out,  and  as  the 
people  kept  crowding  against  her  it  pushed  her  unblushingly  close 
to  the  man  behind  her  in  the  corner.  She  looked  around  to  see 
who  he  might  be  and  lo  and  behold  it  was  the  drummer.  She  won- 
dered if  he  wasn't  thinking  of  the  lovely  rooms  in  Colorado 
Springs.  He  looked  so  dreamy  the  climax  was  too  much  for  her 
sense  of  humor  and  a  tantalizing  laugh  escaped  her.  That  caused 
the  drummer  to  look  as  though  he  wished  the  bottom  of  the  car 
would  drop  out,  his  corner  of  it  anyway.  And  that  was  the  last 
time  she  ever  got  a  glimpse  of  him.  The  supposition  is  he  took 
a  different  route  out  from  Ogden  to  make  sure  of  not  meeting 
the  little  girl  again;  drummers  are  a  jolly  set  generally,  but  I 


39 

don't  fancy  any  of  them  would  care  to  be  laughed  at  by  a  little 
green  looking  country  girl. 

Fortunately  it  did  not  take  long  to  run  down  to  Ogden,  then 
she  was  soon  settled  in  a  comfortable  bed  and  next  morning  felt 
greatly  refreshed,  and  was  on  her  way  again  by  9  o'clock.  She 
soon  found  herself  surrounded  by  more  congenial  traveling  com- 
panions, a  party  of  legislators  accompanied  by  their  wives  and 
daughters.  There  were  also  several  young  men  in  the  party, 
two  or  three  older  men  that  were  not  legislators.  One  Minnie 
ascertained  was  general  passenger  agent  for  the  road  they  were 
traveling  over.  They  were  a  jolly  party  and  time  flew  pleasantly 
by  with  such  good  company.  The  ladies  especially  were  very 
kind  to  Minnie  because  she  was  traveling  alone  and  was  a  little 
young. 

As  this  was  the  day  before  Christmas  and  she  had  expected 
to  be  at  her  journey's  end  before  that  time,  but  as  yet  was  a  long 
ways  from  her  destination.  Christmas  eve  they  all  had  to  change 
cars  at  Pueblo,  but  there  was  no  train  out  till  after  1  o'clock,  and 
when  there  was  one  the  heating  apparatus  of  the  day  coaches 
was  out  of  order,  so  was  cold,  so  the  married  people  retired  to  the 
sleeping  car,  but  all  the  young  people  remained  up  and  had  a  gay 
time,  and  the  conductor  joined  the  party  whenever  he  had  time, 
and  next  morning  after  the  legislative  party  reached  their  desti- 
nation in  Idaho  he  took  Minnie  in  the  sleeping  car,  as  it  was  too 
cold  in  the  day  coach,  and  he  proceeded  to  devote  every  spare 
moment  he  had  off  duty.  He  was  a  little  insignificant  looking 
man  and  proved  as  insignificant  as  he  looked.  She  soon  tired  of 
his  conversation  and  would  pretend  to  be  asleep  when  she  knew 
he  was  coming  through  the  car.  Her  possum  trick  afforded  con- 
siderable amusement  for  a  young  man  across  the  aisle  from  her. 
She  got  tired  of  feigning  sleep,  and  the  conductor  popping  in 
sudden  like  found  her  eyes  open,  stopped  to  say  a  few  words,  but 
could  not  sit  down  then,  but  said  he  would  soon  have  time  to  rest 
again,  as  much  as  to  say  he  hoped  she  wouldn't  go  to  sleep  again. 
The  young  man  across  the  aisle  heard  what  he  said  and  saw  how 


40 

bored  she  looked,  so  he  asked  permission  to  sit  by  her  and  talk. 
He  proved  a  delightful  change  compared  to  the  little  insipid  con- 
ductor. He  was  a  business  man  from  Portland,  a  jewelryman,  I 
believe,  a  fine  looking  young  man  and  acted  like  a  perfect  gentle- 
man. When  the  conductor  came  through  the  car  next  time  and 
found  him  sitting  by  Minnie  how  he  did  scowl.  It  seemed  to 
greatly  amuse  the  young  man,  so  he  retained  the  seat  till  the  con- 
ductor's time  for  a  rest  was  up  and  he  was  again  busy.  Then 
the  young  man  left  to  talk  to  others  in  the  car,  but  about  the  time 
Mr.  Conductor  was  due  for  another  rest  he  came  back  and  talked 
awhile,  and  in  that  way  relieved  her  of  the  conductor's  presence 
the  rest  of  the  day.  Early  in  the  day  the  conductor  had  ascertained 
the  number  of  people  that  would  like  to  have  a  good  Christmas 
dinner,  as  this  day  was  Christmas,  then  telegraphed  ahead  to  some 
woman  that  kept  a  nice  little  restaurant  in  a  small  town  where 
the  train  stopped  long  enough  to  allow  passengers  to  get  a  meal. 
As  everyone  else  in  the  car  was  going  Minnie  finally  decided  to 
accept  the  conductor's  invitation,  but  expected  to  go  with  the 
crowd  and  pay  for  her  own  meal,  but  when  they  reached  the  place 
the  conductor  was  on  hand  to  escort  her  and  head  the  procession 
up  town.  The  young  man  was  not  to  be  outdone,  as  he  walked 
at  her  right,  so  she  had  two  escorts,  but  the  dining  room  was  a 
small  one  and  some  one  had  to  wait,  so  they  compelled  the  con- 
ductor to  be  the  unlucky  one.  So  Minnie  and  the  young  man  ate 
Christmas  dinner  together,  minus  Mr.  Conductor,  and  the  rest  of 
the  day  and  evening  he  was  too  busy  to  have  any  more  rests,  but 
after  everyone  in  the  car  had  retired  he  came  to  Minnie's  berth, 
it  being  an  end  one,  opened  the  curtain  and  chided  her  for  going 
to  bed  so  early  because  he  wanted  to  talk  to  her.  Even  asked  her 
to  get  up  and  come  into  the  part  he  used  as  an  office.  She  ordered 
him  out  and  to  be  quick  about  it.  Then  he  wanted  to  kiss  her 
and  offered  to  do  so.  She  slapped  him  in  the  face  and  told  him 
to  be  gone  that  instant  or  she  would  scream.  At  that  there  was 
a  movement  in  the  berth  next  to  hers,  so  Mr.  Conductor  made  an 
exit  very  quickly  and  returned  no  more,  and  next  morning  who 


4i 

should  turn  out  of  the  berth  next  her  own  but  the  young  man 
before  mentioned.  He  evidently  expected  she  would  need  protec- 
tion during  the  night,  so  had  taken  a  berth  near  her.  While  the 
majority  of  men  both  of  high  and  low  degree  are  scoundrels,  thank 
God  we  yet  have  a  goodly  number  that  are  good  and  noble. 

The  next  morning  they  arrived  in  Portland  and  at  noon 
Minnie  reached  her  destination,  where  she  found  two  uncles  anx- 
iously awaiting  her  arrival.  p  ,  .« 

The  brief  sketch  of  Minnie's  life  so  far  and  the  few  incidents 
are  given  to  show  she  was  a  good  sensible  woman  and  wholly 
undeserving  of  the  evil  treatment  she  received  in  the  following 
years.  She  had  learned  to  almost  reverence  the  aunt  to  whose 
home  she  was  going  to  in  Albany,  Oregon.  She  had  not  seen 
the  aunt  since  she  was  quite  young,  but  the  aunt  had  been  so  good 
and  kind  to  her  mother  in  many  ways,  taking  the  place  of  a 
mother  to  her  whenever  she  had  an  opportunity,  as  their  mother 
died  when  they  were  quite  young,  and  later  in  life  after  the  aunt 
had  married  a  well  to  do  man  in  Oregon,  she  sent  many  nice  and 
useful  gifts  to  Minnie's  mamma  and  the  children  that  were  greatly 
needed  and  appreciated.  In  fact  she  sent  them  so  much  it  endeared 
her  in  the  minds  of  the  children,  and  Minnie  especially  felt  she 
could  never  do  enough  to  repay  her  kindness,  consequently  when 
she  arrived  at  her  aunt's  home  and  found  her  husband  was  not 
prepared  to  furnish  her  a  home  and  she  would  have  to  board  at 
the  hotel  with  him,  she  yielded  to  her  aunt's  persuasion  to  stay 
with  him  till  he  got  a  home  ready.  As  her  aunt  was  complaining 
a  great  deal  and  Minnie  felt  that  now  was  the  time  to  do  some- 
thing in  return  for  the  aunt's  kindness,  as  there  were  many  days 
the  aunt  was  bedfast,  so  Minnie  took  charge  of  the  house  on  such 
times  and  at  all  times  done  most  of  the  real  work  and  took  an 
interest  in  the  management  of  the  household  as  though  it  was  for 
her  mother,  or  even  her  own,  with  the  result  her  aunt  was  so  well 
pleased  she  could  hardly  talk  of  anything  else,  and  in  writing  to 
a  younger  sister,  Mrs.  Anna  Flint,  of  Wabash,  Ind.,  her  letters 
were  full  of  praise  of  Minnie.    This  younger  sister  had  three  girls 


42 

of  her  own,  and  one  son,  and  she  was  very  ambitious  that  they 
should  make  a  great  and  shining  mark  in  the  world,  but  they  were 
not  wealthy  but  much  better  situated  financially  than  Minnie's 
mother  and  a  stronger  and  healthier  woman,  but  the  very  oppo- 
site in  disposition,  being  sour,  cranky,  selfish  and  very  jealous 
in  more  ways  than  of  her  husband,  but  he,  good-natured  old  soul, 
came  in  for  a  goodly  share  of  that,  but  he  didn't  seem  to  pay  much 
attention  to  it.  Consequently  when  she  received  letters  from  her 
sister  Mary  in  Oregon  so  full  of  praise  for  Minnie  the  green- 
eyed  monster  got  the  best  of  her,  as  her  sister  was  by  that  time 
wealthy  and  no  children  of  her  own,  Mrs.  Flinn  preferred  to  have 
her  own  daughters  stand  highest  in  her  Sister  Mary's  estimation 
for  the  sake  of  what  she  could  give  them  while  she  lived,  and  also 
make  them  her  heirs.  While  Minnie  arrived  in  Albany  in  Decem- 
ber this  Mrs.  Flinn  with  two  of  her  daughters  arrived  the  follow- 
ing first  of  June  and  remained  till  the  latter  part  of  September, 
and  Minnie  soon  saw  that  Mrs.  Flinn's  coming  boded  evil  for 
her,  and  it  proved  many  times  worse  than  she  could  even  imag- 
ine. The  aunt  Mary  was  sick  much  of  the  time  all  summer  and 
that  gave  them  a  chance  to  do  much  mischief.  For  instance,  they 
would  hover  over  the  aunt  Mary  and  do  a  little  waiting  on  her, 
but  would  not  do  a  hand's  turn  to  assist  Minnie  with  the  drudgery 
and  yet  she  found  out  later  they  claimed  to  Mary  they  were  doing 
all  the  work  in  the  kitchen,  and  in  reality  all  they  did  was  to  watch 
Minnie  and  study  up  something  to  find  fault  about  her,  and  even 
resorted  to  lies.  Minnie  soon  saw  such  a  change  in  her  aunt 
Mary  she  decided  to  keep  her  eyes  and  ears  open  and  try  to  find 
out  the  cause.  She  had  a  good  idea,  but  she  was  determined  to 
make  sure.  So  she  overheard  their  conversation  many  times,  but 
her  aunt  Mary  being  sick  so  much  and  as  she  was  at  a  critical  age, 
Minnie  determined  not  to  desert  her  too  much,  for  the  special 
reason  that  the  aunt  Mary's  mind  was  not  as  clear  at  all  times  as 
it  had  been,  a  common  occurrence  with  many  women  at  her  age. 
She  could  notice  it  herself,  and  many,  many  times  said  to  Minnie 
she  feared  she  would  loose  her  mind  so  completely  she  might  have 


43 

to  be  sent  to  Salem.  For  that  reason  Minnie  endured  much  and 
tried  to  keep  the  machinery  of  that  household  so  well  oiled  every- 
thing would  run  smoothly  and  be  no  clashing  to  disturb  the  aunt 
Mary,  with  the  hope  that  she  would  come  out  of  her  sickness  with 
her  mind  as  clear  and  bright  as  ever.  But  Mrs.  Flinn  and  her 
daughter  were  as  determined  to  cause  trouble  as  Minnie  was  to 
avoid  it  and  of  course  there  soon  came  a  time  when  patience  ceased 
to  be  a  virtue,  and  Minnie  went  to  her  uncle  and  told  him  how 
they  had  been  deceiving  Aunt  Mary  and  maligning  her.  He  had 
noticed  a  good  deal  himself,  so  was  not  much  surprised,  but  very 
angry.  Minnie  packed  up  her  belongings  and  wrote  her  husband 
to  get  a  house  to  go  to  housekeeping  again,  supposing  after  nine 
months  he  would  have  enough  laid  up  to  start  on  anyway.  But 
he  had  not.  Pool  playing,  cards  and  women  had  got  it,  for  he 
drew  a  good  salary.  Well,  in  her  dilemma  Minnie  asked  her  uncle 
Perry  to  loan  her  a  hundred  dollars  for  ninety  days  to  buy  a  few 
necessary  things  to  commence  housekeeping  with. 

When  they  found  out  she  borrowed  money  of  the  uncle  they 
threw  up  their  hands  in  horror  and  proceeded  to  poison  the  wife's 
mind  against  the  husband  solely  to  injure  Minnie  in  her  estima- 
tion for  all  time,  and  they  succeeded,  but  that  was  not  the  worst 
effect  from  their  evil  work.  They  poisoned  that  sick  woman's 
mind  with  those  evil  suggestions  and  from  thinking  evil  of  others 
sank  to  evil  doing  herself  in  time.  Had  Mrs.  Flinn  been  a  good 
Christian  woman,  like  she  posed  as  being  then,  she  would  have 
given  that  sister  beautiful  thoughts  that  would  have  soared  heav- 
enward, and  in  the  light  and  power  of  God's  love  that  brain  might 
have  cleared.  I  pity  Mrs.  Flinn  when  she  stands  before  the  judg- 
ment seat  of  God.  She  wrecked  a  beautiful  home  and  brought 
heart-breaking  sorrow  to  an  aged  man  that  was  deserving  of  good 
treatment.  She  done  all  that  lay  in  her  power  to  wreck  the  char- 
acter of  her  dead  sister's  child  in  the  estimation  of  all  the  child 
held  most  dear,  but  Minnie's  faith  in  God's  love  and  mercy  never 
weakened  and  she  said  if  there  is  a  just  God  in  heaven  he  will 
punish  that  woman  and  some  day  she  will  be  brought  forth  and 


44 

shown  up  in  her  true  colors.  Many  years  have  passed  since  she 
did  that  foul  thing,  and  her  punishment  on  earth  has  already  been 
great.  Immediately  on  returning  home  she  was  afflicted  with  ter- 
rible sickness  in  her  head,  nearly  went  crazy  herself  and  about 
the  same  time  her  husband  was  taken  sick,  was  compelled  to  have 
an  operation  on  his  skull.  A  big  expense  and  no  income  of  the 
precious  metal  she  would  barter  her  soul  for.  She  had  one  daugh- 
ter that  wasn't  considered  as  bright  as  the  oldest  daughter,  Emma 
Jane.  After  they  were  so  afflicted  with  sickness  they  kept  her 
home  to  do  the  work.  The  father  was  unable  to  work  for  such 
a  long  time  Emma  Jane,  her  pride,  and  the  one  she  was  so  ambi- 
tious to  have  so  highly  educated  and  wanted  her  to  be  the  Aunt 
Mary's  heiress,  and  so  forth,  had  to  quit  school  and  go  to  dress- 
making to  earn  money  to  help  support  the  family.  Very  soon  the 
one  at  home,  the  drudge,  took  some  fever  and  died  after  a  long 
illness  that  caused  a  big  bill.  Then  Emma  Jane  had  to  leave  the 
sewing  room  to  go  home  to  work  in  the  kitchen,  got  discouraged, 
married  a  farmer,  had  two  children,  then  died  and  left  them  for 
her  mother  to  care  for.  The  one  boy  of  the  family  that  was  as 
the  apple  of  his  mother's  eye,  and  she  had  hoped  great  things  for 
him,  ran  away  with  a  circus,  was  gone  a  year.  She  never  heard 
from  him  till  he  came  back  to  die,  and  did  so  in  a  few  months  of 
consumption.  The  last  account  Minnie  had  of  Mrs.  Flinn's  trou- 
bles she  was  at  loggerheads  with  her  sister,  Mary,  so  that  put  an 
end  to  her  hopes  of  gain  there,  for  either  herself  or  surviving 
child,  but  Mrs.  Flinn  was  not  alone  in  her  evil  work  of  ruining 
her  sister's  home.  Her  brother,  Harmon,  had  a  hand  in  the  game 
against  Minnie,  but  for  his  own  benefit  and  while  he  and  his  fam- 
ily have  profited  well  financially  in  the  pasing  years  that's  all  they 
will  get,  judging  from  the  information  a  detective  secured  long 
before  Mary  applied  for  a  divorce.  She  was  greatly  enamoured 
with  a  little  weizened-up  libertine.  Not  only  was  the  detective  in 
possession  of  horrible  facts,  but  a  great  many  times  the  facts  of 
the  condition  of  affairs  was  made  evident  to  neighbors.  One 
neighbor  went  to  Mary's  house  after  lunch  to  deliver  a  beautiful 


45 

rose  a  friend  had  asked  her  to  kindly  deliver  for  her,  and  she 
could  get  no  response  to  her  repeated  knocking-  at  the  door.  She 
stepped  back  in  her  own  house  and  sat  down  in  her  bay  window 
to  sew,  and  was  in  full  view  of  Mary's  house.  In  a  very  few 
moments  after  she  had  settled  down  to  her  sewing  along  comes 
this  little  libertine  and  apparently  did  not  stop  to  rap,  but  walked 
right  in.  Perhaps  some  one  was  watching  and  had  the  door  wide 
open  for  him  to  enter.  The  neighbor  said  now  is  my  chance.  She 
is  in  now.  I'll  take  the  rose  right  over  before  it  wilts  any.  It's 
such  a  beauty.  Well,  she  rapped  and  waited ;  no  response ;  rapped 
again  very  loud ;  no  response.  She  knew  Mary  was  in  the  house, 
so  also  was  the  man,  so  she  repeated  the  rapping  and  also  shook 
the  door.  She  jammed  the  rose  down  in  the  ground  by  the  door 
and  left  it  and  never  set  foot  in  her  doorway  again.  Such  results 
their  wicked  work  has  wrought  certainly  will  be  anything  but 
pleasant  thoughts  for  Mrs.  Flinn  and  Harmon  to  dwell  on  in  their 
old  days.  Harmon's  idea  was  to  get  the  management  of  Mary's 
money  after  she  secured  a  divorce. 

Well,  so  wags  the  world,  but  those  that  take  delight  in  dig- 
ging such  pits  for  some  one  else  to  fall  in  should  remember  that 
eventually  they  will  trip  and  go  down  in  the  pit  themselves,  and 
the  ones  they  have  tried  so  hard  to  ruin  often  will  be  elevated  by 
the  dirt  they  have  thrown  up  in  digging  the  pit. 

The  way  events  veered  round  in  Minnie's  life  proves  the 
statement.  We  will  go  back  over  her  life  to  the  point  where  she 
left  her  aunt's  home  to  go  to  housekeeping,  for  two  or  three 
years  of  her  life  was  made  miserable  by  this  selfish  and  jealous 
dispositioned  man.  Add  to  that  his  chagrin  because  she  ob- 
jected to  him  running  a  saloon.  Finally  they  moved  to  a  larger 
city.  He  took  a  man  with  him,  intending  to  go  into  the  business 
anyway;  but  she  soon  got  an  inkling  of  what  they  were  up  to 
and  read  them  both  such  a  lecture  it  scared  the  little  man  that 
had  the  money  so  bad  that  he  disappeared  at  once.  So  that  put 
a  stop  to  the  business  for  a  while;  but  her  husband  was  deter- 
mined to  have  a  saloon.     He  secured  a  good  job,  got  big  wages, 


46 

and  went  to  saving  up  for  the  business,  and  in  the  meantime 
treated  her  scandalous  in  many  ways,  and  at  last,  when  she  saw 
he  would  eventually  go  into  the  business  in  spite  of  her,  she  left 
him,  but  not  till  she  had  prayed  long  and  fervently  over  the 
matter,  and  from  then  on  would  work  from  early  till  late,  and 
made  short  work  of  getting  ready  to  leave.  And  never  a  doubt 
or  regret  came  in  her  heart  then  or  after,  and  at  that  time  she 
belonged  to  no  church  either.  She  went  back  to  her  father's 
home  and  stayed  for  several  years  with  heart  and  health  broken. 
But  when  she  first  left  he  circulated  the  report  that  she  had  left 
him  for  another  man  that  had  wealth,  as  though  wealth  was  the 
all  important  part  considered,  which  was  an  untruth,  as  he  found 
to  his  sorrow  later.  When  he  fully  realized  he  had  lost  her  for- 
ever, and  that  he  loved  her  better  than  he  knew  till  it  was  too  late 
to  recall  her,  it  took  all  thought  of  saloon  business  out  of  him, 
and  his  thoughts  and  ambitions  settled  on  an  idea  that  had  come 
to  him  while  at  work  for  a  certain  invention  that  later  he  pat- 
ented and  made  a  fortune  with  it,  and  in  less  than  three  years 
from  the  time  she  left  he  was  offered  $50,000  for  the  use  of  his 
patent  just  in  Alaska.  He  would  not  have  realized  that  much 
from  the  profits  of  a  dozen  saloons  in  that  short  time  in  the  place 
where  he  intended  to  commence. 

After  a  few  years  Minnie  married  again,  this  time  in  a  family 
that  were  enthusiastic  prohibition  workers  from  the  oldest  to  the 
youngest,  and  all  teachers  or  preachers,  and  sometimes  both ;  but 
they  were  not  rich.  The  difference  in  the  two  elements  was  very 
great,  and  she  enjoyed  the  latter  much  more  than  all  the  wealth 
the  first  could  ever  have  accumulated.  She  lived  among  them  four 
years ;  then  she  was  compelled  to  return  to  Oregon  for  her  health, 
and  again  she  was  made  to  suffer  agonies  indescribable  by  the 
meanness  of  a  few  jealous  and  extremely  selfish  people,  and  at 
last,  when  the  last  straw  that  breaks  the  camel's  back  was  added, 
her  uncle  came  to  her,  and  told  her  how  things  were  going  in  his 
home,  and  that  things  had  come  to  such  a  pass,  and  no  fault  of 
his,  either,  he  would  have  to  make  arrangements  for  someone  to 


47 

take  care  of  him  in  his  old  days,  as  his  wife  cared  for  naught 
but  to  get  all  the  money  she  could  and  get  away.  He  had  but 
one  daughter  and  no  sons  living,  and  this  daughter  had  several 
noisy  and  mischievous  youngsters,  so  he  could  not  think  of  going 
to  their  home,  and  it  was  the  same  with  the  only  grandchildren 
that  were  married,  and  those  that  were  not  married  were  too 
rattle-brained  to  be  depended  on  to  take  proper  care  of  them- 
selves even.  So  he  arranged  with  Minnie  to  help  her  financially 
while  he  lived,  and  make  sure  she  would  receive  her  reward  for 
her  work,  and  to  place  her  under  obligations  to  him  so  he  could 
feel  sure  of  some  one  to  take  care  of  him  in  his  last  days.  So 
at  last  Minnie  received  unasked  and  very  much  unexpected  just 
what  her  enemies  had  tried  to  keep  from  her,  as  they  had  plotted 
to  ruin  him  completely  and  get  every  dollar  the  old  gentleman 
had;  and  as  it  was  they  would  not  have  got  what  they  did  if  it 
had  not  been  for  Minnie.  She  finally  advised  him  to  give  his  wife 
a  plenty  to  make  her  comfortable  if  she  would  use  it  carefully, 
and  let  her  go,  as  she  was  just  as  worthy  as  some  of  his  other 
heirs  by  his  first  wife.  Then,  perhaps,  they  would  let  him  be 
in  peace.  If  some  men  had  been  in  his  shoes  they  would  have 
put  the  wife  in  the  insane  asylum  and  some  others  in  state's 
prison,  and  none  of  them  would  have  got  hold  of  a  dollar  of  his 
money. 

In  reviewing  her  life  Minnie  often  wondered  why  she  had 
been  afflicted  with  so  much  trouble  in  so  many  different  ways 
when  she  tried  so  hard  to  be  kind  and  helpful  to  all  around  her ; 
and  some  she  had  helped  the  most  treated  her  worst  in  her  time 
of  need.  This  was  the  severest  trial  of  all.  But  there  had  been 
a  time  after  her  second  marriage  when  she  came  into  this  family 
of  very  active  Christians,  the  Lord  placed  her  near  a  field  of  His 
that  she  could  have  labored  in,  and  perhaps  accomplished  a  great 
deal  of  good  to  His  glory.  The  field  meant  was  a  little  neighbor- 
hood with  a  church  different  from  her  denomination.  That  fact 
added  to  the  immoral  condition  among  several  families  that  at- 
tended this  church,  and  especially  a  bunch  of  giddy  girls  that 


48 

went  to  church  only  for  pastime  and  amusement.  Minnie  had  no 
patience  with  them,  or  knew  she  would  not,  so  did  not  attempt 
to  help  or  hinder  them.  She  had  kept  herself  good  and  pure 
through  some  rough  places ;  had  seen  much  trouble,  but  had  come 
out  with  a  cool  head,  and  had  remained  pure  and  good  and  knew 
it,  and  had  no  patience  with  silly,  rattle-brained  girls,  conse- 
quently never  pulled  a  weed  out  of  that  rough  field  so  close  at 
hand.  Then  gradually  her  health  slipped  away,  and  the  Lord 
gave  her  some  harder  lessons  to  learn  in  the  schoolroom  we  call 
the  world.  And  a  few  years  later,  when  she  was  again  review- 
ing her  life  that  had  past,  the  Lord  made  it  plain  to  her  that  she 
had  needed  just  such  trials  and  troubles  to  fit  her  for  the  work 
He  wanted  her  to  do.  And  now  that  she  has  been  brought  to  a 
realization  of  the  actual  conditions  and  great  need  of  Christ-like 
Christian  work,  right  at  our  very  doors,  she  intends  to  pull  weeds 
or  plow  for  Jesus'  sake  the  rest  of  her  life,  and  can  sing  with 
the  Psalmist  of  old. 

Psalm  XXIII.  David's  Confidence  in  God's  Grace.  A 
Psalm  of  David. 

The  Lord  is  my  shepherd ;  I  shall  not  want. 

He  maketh  me  to  lie  down  in  green  pastures ;  he  leadeth  me 
beside  the  still  waters. 

He  restoreth  my  soul ;  he  leadeth  me  in  the  paths  of  right- 
eousness for  his  name's  sake. 

Yea,  though  I  walk  through  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of 
death,  I  will  fear  no  evil :  for  thou  art  with  me ;  thy  rod  and  thy 
staff  they  comfort  me. 

Thou  preparest  a  table  before  me  in  the  presence  of  mine 
enemies ;  thou  anointest  my  head  with  oil ;  my  cup  runneth  over. 

Surely  goodness  and  mercy  shall  follow  me  all  the  days  of  my 
life :  and  I  will  dwell  in  the  house  of  the  Lord  for  ever. 


Dinuer 
Gaylord  Bros.  Inc. 

Makers 
Stockton,  Calif. 


